KUMQUAT (Citrus japonica)  , a much-branched shrub from 8 to 12 ft. high, the branches sometimes bearing small thorns, with dark green glossy leaves and pure white orange-like flowers standing singly or clustered in the leaf-axils . The bright orange-yellow fruit is round or ellipsoidal, about i in. in diameter, with a thick minutely tuberculate rind, the inner lining of which is sweet, and a watery acidulous pulp . It has long been cultivated in China and Japan, and was introduced to Europe in 1846 by Mr Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural Society, and shortly after into North America . It is much hardier than most plants of the orange tribe, and succeeds well when grafted on the wild species, Citrus trifoliata . It is largely used by the Chinese as a sweetmeat preserved in sugar .