The Orange Tree of Pedro the Cruel

The measurements on this one tell a different story from the name. Two metres round at the base, thirty six centimetres at chest height, three metres tall: a broad old stool with a thin young trunk coming out of it, which is what a citrus looks like after it has been cut back, frozen back or died back and grown again more than once. Seville's catalogue of singular trees lists it as El Naranjo de Pedro el Cruel, after Pedro I of Castile, called both the Cruel and the Just, who built the mudéjar palace still standing a short walk from here between 1364 and 1366. The catalogue does not say why the tree carries his name and does not date it. A bitter orange living six centuries would be remarkable, and nothing here shows that this one has. If you know when it was planted, or where the name came from, tell us and it goes on the page. Bitter oranges have been planted in this city since Almohad rule for the scent of the blossom rather than the fruit, which is far too sour to eat straight and ends up in British marmalade instead. This one stands between the Pabellón de Carlos V and the Cenador del León, and the 2022 survey records it as physiologically stressed but in good overall condition.