Citron

Citron is a plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time that is obtained in Far Future. It shoots powerful balls of plasma at the zombies. Its name is based on Citrus medica. In Far Future - Day 15, a Save Our Seeds level, they are the plants the player has to protect.

Overview
When the Citron is newly planted, It is small. It charges projectiles when it is small. It takes seven seconds to charge up the first ball of plasma, then charges in ten seconds after that. If there are no zombies or tombstones in front of the Citron, it will keep the plasma ball charged until one appears. The plasma balls that Citron fires deal exactly 40 damage.

Plant Food Upgrade
It gets struck by lightning and shoots a giant plasma ball that kills all the zombies in that row (or kills the leftmost Robo-Cone Zombie, Gargantuar, Mecha-Football Zombie, Shield Zombie or Disco-tron 3000 in one shot). It can also bounce away zombies if they have less health than the plasma's damage. It deals 200 normal damage shots in total. It can also destroy a whole row of graves only if there are no Gargantuars or machines before the graves. Gargantuars or machines will prevent the graves behind them from being destroyed.

Almanac Entry
DAMAGE: Huge

AREA: Single

RECHARGE: Fast

Citrons shoot powerful balls of plasma.

As the owner and primary user of "Vitamin C-U-Later" 20-hour energy shots, Citron is always on and always ready for action. "Let's make this happen!!"

Level upgrade (Chinese version only)
Level 2: Shoot 25% faster, attack and health +50%.

Level 3: Shoot 40% faster, attack and health +50% again (total +100%=2x).

Costumed (Chinese version only)
Plant Food have a high damage lightning chain to attack zombies.

Strategies
Citron is a powerful plant and can deal with most zombies, even Gargantuars. However, they are particularly expensive and only hit one zombie at a time at a very slow rate. It is best used to kill early strong zombies, as it's the easiest to use plant that can kill a single Robo-Cone Zombie on its own.

It is not advised to use a full army of Citrons in any level, as the Citrons will kill their targets one by one, even overkilling any zombie who is dead, therefore wasting a shot. Therefore it is not advised especially if you are facing a swarm of zombies on any level. It also has a major problem dealing with Chicken Wrangler Zombies when alone. Although the Chicken Wrangler Zombie is fragile and will easily be killed, the chickens are very fast and the Citron will most likely be eaten due to their huge numbers and the Citron's slow rate of fire.

The Plant Food ability is very similar in many parts to Laser Bean's Plant Food on many levels. The main difference between the two is how they deal with the larger, tougher zombies. Laser Bean can hit the zombies behind any zombies which are too tough to die from the Laser Bean, effectively making it more useful than the Citron for crowd control. Conversely, Citron instantly kills the zombie which Laser Bean would not have killed, making it more ideal against Gargantuars and Gargantuar Prime, who will release their Imp upon taking one instant kill worth of damage. Regardless, on levels without tough zombies, the two are perfectly interchangeable with no penalties or severe differences.

Trivia

 * When you look closely, there are marks on the Citron after firing its plasma ball.
 * It is the second Far Future plant showed in the Piñata Parties.
 * The Citron was originally going to cost 400 sun, which is proven by the official screenshot released the Tuesday prior to the world's release by Electronic Arts.
 * During Last Stand setup, Citron's animation stops once it is fully charged, possibly due to a bug. Once the level starts, Citron's animation will resume.
 * If the player looks closely, on the seed packet, the pupils are pointing down, while, on the lawn, the pupils are looking right. Just before it gets fully charged, you can see its eyes are pointing down.
 * The Jester Zombie can deflect Citron's main attack but not its Plant Food ability. The deflected Plasma Ball is powerful enough to kill one plant that is not a defensive plant.
 * Citron has the slowest rate of fire that can attack automatically in the entire Plants vs. Zombies series.
 * The word "citron" actually means "citrus" in French, but is used in the Citron's name as a portmanteau of "citrus" and the suffix "-tron".
 * Citron also means "lemon-like fruit" in English.
 * Citron's Plant Food ability does not stop on a Zombie Bull unlike other machines.
 * The Citron's Plant Food ability can stop the Zombot Tomorrow-tron's charge attack, stunning the Zombot where it is hit. The same effect can be achieved with the Coconut Cannon's Plant Food ability and the Zombot Plank Walker's charge attack.
 * This is the most expensive plant in the Far Future.