|
|
|
|
Citrus Trees (Citrus sp.) We have several different citrus. They are planted in the same location they were when the Steins lived here. In the historic picture of the barn after the roof was destroyed by the cyclone, the battered looking trees in the foreground were citrus. Our varieties are old fashioned. Note that the Washington Navel and Valencia oranges are still the most popular oranges on the market today. An interesting bit of trivia is that all Washington Navel oranges are clones of the original trees (still there today) from Riverside! (*) An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus fruit Citrus sinensis (syn. Citrus aurantium L. var. dulcis L., or Citrus aurantium Risso) and its fruit. The orange is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo (Citrus maxima) and tangerine (Citrus reticulata). It is a small flowering tree growing to about 10 m tall with evergreen leaves, which are arranged alternately, of ovate shape with crenulate margins and 4–10 cm long. The orange fruit is a hesperidium, a type of berry. Oranges originated in Southeast Asia. The fruit of Citrus sinensis is called sweet orange to distinguish it from Citrus aurantium, the bitter orange. In a number of languages, it is known as a "Chinese apple" (e.g. Dutch Sinaasappel, "China's apple", or "Apfelsine" in German). The name is thought to ultimately derive from the Dravidian word for the orange tree, with its final form developing after passing through numerous intermediate languages. *A single mutation in 1820 in an orchard of sweet oranges planted at a monastery in Brazil yielded the navel orange, also known as the Washington, Riverside, or Bahie navel. The mutation causes navel oranges to develop a second orange at the base of the original fruit, opposite the stem. The second orange develops as a conjoined twin in a set of smaller segments embedded within the peel of the larger orange. From the outside, the smaller, and undeveloped twin leaves a formation at the bottom of the fruit that looks similar to the human navel. Because the mutation left the fruit seedless and, therefore, sterile, the only means available to cultivate more of this new variety is to graft cuttings onto other varieties of citrus tree. Two such cuttings of the original tree were transplanted to Riverside, California in 1870, which eventually led to worldwide popularity. Today, navel oranges continue to be produced via cutting and grafting. This does not allow for the usual selective breeding methodologies, and so not only do the navel oranges of today have exactly the same genetic makeup as the original tree, and are therefore clones; in a sense, all navel oranges can be considered to be the fruit of that single, over a century-old tree. On rare occasions, however, further mutations can lead to new varieties.
|
All images and material are the property
of thesteinfamilyfarm.org. Unless otherwise stated.
|
