pre-Enlightenment classification of the Orange Fruit of Central Florida

(alison and anna)


Identification and origin:
These round fruits are generally various shades of the color orange, sometimes with various tints and shades of yellow, brown, or red, although the fruit can also be seen in an undeveloped states in dull greens and yellows. The orange fruit has been determined a southern mutant descendent of the northern native pumpkin, as seen through the likeness between the shapes, exterior color and some aspects of the interior structures of the two. The interior structure of the orange fruit contains small uneatable pods, as well as a wealth of tiny nectar-filled sacs contained within transparent skin-like membranes. The inside of the fruit can thus be imagined as an interior body part or organ likened to certain bodily aspects of a youth, especially a young girl, whose sweetness blossoms at a certain age, after which her composition becomes increasingly bitter and dry. The pumpkin, however, as a native of the land, tastes more of the soil from which it is grown, while the orange is clearly a more exotic crop with the brighter hue of a hotter sun, a sour acidic bite of barbarian peoples, and a juicier constitution-sometime even containing fluid in the color red- which comes of course from the falling water that its blossom drinks in humid climates, as well as the centuries of blood-shed sucked into the fruit by the trees whose fingers draw it from the blood-soaked lands of the Spanish. The orange fruit is thus thought to be a non-native product of trade attributed many generations back to the people whose constitution and blood the fruit sometimes resembles.

Fruits of the orange family:
Several descendents of the orange fruit come from other peoples of the world, including such inferior fruits as the sour yellow lemon, which is smaller and causes pain in the cheeks when eaten, like its step-sister the sour, but more bitter lime. Another fruit in this family, whose origins are unknown, is the larger, more pale grandmother: the putrid pink grapefruit, for which a suitable use has not yet been discovered.

Growth patterns:
The orange fruit grows in trees or on bushes in tropical climates, and can usually be found in large groupings of trees known as orchards or groves. Such areas of orange tree growth are especially lovely in the cooler tropical season when the fruit reaches its prime sweetness and dispenses a pleasant aroma throughout the local atmosphere. For this reason, orange tree groves are especially popular locations for picnicking in amiable southern winter climates.

Symbolic value:
The fruit is often given as an empathetic gesture to those in ill-health, or who are otherwise unwell due to various sadnesses often associated with loss. However, the orange fruit is also given at occasions of celebration and on holidays as gifts between family members or between workers of middle standing to their superiors on holidays. These uses of the fruit posit it as a symbolic gift of well-wishing, though it is sometimes also viewed from the outside as a symbol of ‘brown-nosing,’ which is an attempt by an inferior sort of person to raise their standing in the eyes of persons of higher status through gift-giving.

Appearance:
The surface of the fruit in most states of development and decomposition mirrors the process of aging as seen in the topology of an elderly male’s nose. The fruit has been known to last for several weeks sometimes before the process of wrinkling and bubbling of the skin sets in, much like a man whose nose stays fresh and smooth through his younger years, but begins to take on a more bubbly and warty look late in life. The long period of youthful appearance of this fruit allows one to purchase it well in advance, and in quantities well in excess of the amount one can consume, yet still give it away for well-wishing or ‘brown-nosing,’--or even find other uses for it--by the time one figures this out.