[8] It is first described by the Portuguese botanist João de Loureiro in 1790, in his Flora cochinchinensis under the name Citrus margarita.

[7][9] It is described again by the American botanist Walter Tennyson Swingle in 1915, as varieties of Citrus japonica.

[10] However, recent phylogenetic analysis suggested that C. margarita is a single 'true' species.

It has simple, alternate leaves, which are dark green above and have a leathery texture.

[15] It is cultivated in Central and South America, Sicily, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Hawaii and Malaysia.