Citrus

Meyer lemon was collected in 1908 near Peking, China, by USDA plant explorer Frank Meyer, who vanished mysteriously on a later expedition on the Yangtze River in 1918. Decades later, growers discovered the original trees were symptomless carriers of citrus tristeza virus — California quarantined the original stock, and the virus-free "Improved Meyer Lemon" released in the early 1970s is the only version legally sold today.

Satsuma mandarins sparked what Gulf Coast locals in the early 1900s called "Satsuma Madness," after roughly a million trees were imported from Japan between 1908 and 1911 and planted across Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas — several towns are still named Satsuma today. Severe freezes through the 1920s–40s wiped out most of that production for the next fifty years.

Kaffir lime is increasingly sold under its Thai name, makrut lime — researchers have traced "kaffir" to an Arabic word for "infidel," now recognized as an offensive term in parts of Africa.

Key lime, the classic Florida fruit, was nearly wiped out commercially by the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926; growers largely replanted with the hardier Persian lime instead, and most "Key lime" flavoring sold today doesn't actually come from Florida-grown Key limes.