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Orange , common name for citrus fruit of several trees. Different
varieties include the sweet orange, the sour, or Seville orange, and the
mandarin orange, or tangerine, all rich in vitamin C. The fruit is technically
a hesperidia, a kind of berry. It consists of several easily separated
carpel's, or sections, each containing several seeds and many juice cells,
covered by a leathery exocarp, or skin, containing numerous oil glands.
Orange trees are evergreens, seldom exceeding 9 m (30 ft) in height. The
leaves are oval and glossy and the flowers are white and fragrant. Three
essential oils are obtained from oranges: oil of orange, obtained from the
rind of the fruit and used principally as a flavoring agent; oil of petigrain,
obtained from the leaves and twigs and used in perfumery; and oil of
neroli, obtained from the blossoms and used in flavorings and perfumes.