Buddha's hand
citron variety with finger-like sections
Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis, or the fingered citron, is a citron variety whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections, resembling those seen on representations of the Buddha. It is called Buddha's hand in many languages including English, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, German and French. Unlike other citrus fruits, it contains no pulp or juice, but has edible rind and pith.
The different cultivars and variations of this citron variety form a gradient from "open-hand" types with outward-splayed segments to "closed-hand" types, in which the fingers are kept together. There are also half-fingered fruits, in which the basal side is united and the apical side fingered. The origin of this kind of citron is commonly traced back to South or East Asia, probably northeastern India or China, where most domesticated citrus fruits originate.
Description
Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis is, like any other citron variety, a shrub or small tree with long, irregular branches covered in thorns. Its large, oblong leaves are pale green and grow about four to six inches.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1922056. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Buddha's hand” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.