He also focuses on mainstream markets, however, selling to stores in New York like Fairway and Gourmet Garage. To stay ahead of the curve, he experiments with varieties like the Rangpur lime, which looks like a tangerine and has a rich, distinctive flavor.

''I've got high-end purveyors knocking my door down, begging me for them,'' he said. ''Everyone's looking for an angle; everyone wants something new.''

The original lime species is Citrus aurantifolia, the small, round and seedy ''true lime'' with a spicy, penetrating fragrance and flavor. Scientists recently confirmed that it is a natural hybrid of citron, a giant ancestor of the lemon, and the small-flowered papeda, a tiny, primitive citrus. This true lime originated in the region from northeastern India to Malaysia. In the 16th century, the Spanish brought it to the New World, where similar strains became known as West Indian, Mexican or Key limes.

It is the most appreciated sort of lime in the tropics, but is rarely grown in the United States because the tree is wickedly thorny, vulnerable to diseases and sensitive to cold. Florida's small but glamorous Key lime industry has almost completely succumbed to the canker-eradication program; in California, just a few Mexican limes, as they are called locally, are grown for ethnic and farmers' markets. Virtually all true limes in the United States now come from Mexico.

The larger oval, usually seedless lime that accounts for 95 percent of American sales is C. latifolia, which is actually a hybrid of true lime and citron. Of obscure origin, it probably passed through Iran to the Mediterranean area and in about 1875 arrived in California and Florida. In California it is called Bearss (pronounced BAIRCE), after a San Joaquin Valley nurseryman, but it is also known as a Persian or Tahiti lime. Less pungent than true lime, it is better adapted to growing conditions in the United States. And because it stores better, it will probably remain the standard.