Bergamot Orange

The bergamot orange is a small citrus tree with glossy leaves and clusters of white, star-shaped flowers. Its fruit, about the size of an orange, ripens from green to a pale yellow and is slightly flattened and knobbly. It is most likely a cross between the lemon and the bitter orange, and it is unrelated to the mint-family herbs also called bergamot, which only share something of its scent. It is grown chiefly around the Mediterranean, above all on the Ionian coast of Reggio di Calabria in southern Italy, where the fruit has become an emblem of the city; French and Ivorian growers also raise it for its oil. The fragrant oil drawn from the rind has been used in French perfumery since the seventeenth century, was part of the original eau de Cologne, and gives Earl Grey tea its character. In magical practice Kynes ties it to air, Mercury and the Sun, and to confidence, protection and prosperity: its oil is diffused to reach and speak with spirits or worn for psychic protection, and the fruit goes into spells for luck and wealth.