Syrupus Limonis. Br. Syrup of Lemon.

Botanical name: 

Related entry: Lemon

Syrupus Succus Citri; Sirop de Limon (de Citron), Sirop de sue de Limon (de citron), Fr.; Citronensirup, Citronensaftsirup, G.; Jarabe de limon, Sp.

"Lemon Peel, in thin slices or grated, 20 grammes; Alcohol (90 per cent.), a sufficient quantity; Lemon Juice, 500 millilitres; Refined Sugar, 760 grammes. Macerate the Lemon Peel in thirty millilitres of the Alcohol for seven days; press; filter; add sufficient of the Alcohol to produce forty millilitres. In the Lemon Juice, clarified by subsidence or filtration, dissolve the Refined Sugar by the aid of gentle heat; cool; add the forty millilitres of alcoholic liquid; mix." Br.

The U. S. P. 1880 syrup of lemon was dropped at the 1890 revision; as it is frequently used, the process is appended.

"Lemon Juice, recently expressed and strained, forty parts [or seventeen fluidounces]; Fresh Lemon Peel, two parts [or one ounce av.]; Sugar, in coarse powder, sixty parts [or twenty-eight ounces av.]; Water a sufficient quantity, to make one hundred parts [or about two pints]. Heat the Lemon Juice to the boiling point; then add the Lemon Peel, and let the whole stand, closely covered, until cold. Filter, add enough Water through the filter to make the filtrate weigh forty parts [or measure seventeen fluid-ounces], dissolve the Sugar in the filtered liquid by agitation, without heat, and strain." U. S. 1880.

The addition of lemon peel to the preparation is an improvement, but the internal white portion of the peel should be carefully removed before adding to the hot lemon juice, or the finished syrup will have a bitter taste. (See Limonis Cortex.) This syrup forms a cooling and grateful addition to beverages in febrile complaints, and serves to conceal the taste of saline purgatives in solution.


The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.