New Zealand grapefruit

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New Zealand grapefruit
New Zealand Grapefruit-Poor Man's Orange.jpg
A cut and uncut New Zealand Grapefruit (poorman "orange")
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Citrus
Parentage unknown
Species:
C. paradisi
Binomial name
Citrus paradisi
Macfad.

The New Zealand grapefruit, also known as the Poorman, Poorman orange, [1] poorman's orange, poor man's orange, and goldfruit, [2] is a type of citrus fruit grown in New Zealand. Despite its name, it is not genetically a true grapefruit, but rather is believed to be a hybrid between a pomelo and a mandarin or tangelo.

Contents

Origin

The New Zealand grapefruit is thought to have originated in East Asia, [1] [3] and is said to have been brought to Australia from Shanghai by a Captain Simpson,[ when? ] though at least one early-19th-century report described this original import as a shaddock (pomelo), leaving open the possibility that the founding poorman hybridisation may have occurred in Australia. [1] It was introduced into New Zealand from Australia around 1855 by Sir George Grey, [1] [3] and provided by Grey in 1861 to John Morrison of Warkworth, namesake of what became the most widely grown New Zealand clone. [1]

Description

The tree is large and vigorous, with rough greyish-brown bark. The petioles of its dark green leaves are more similar to mandarin orange and bitter orange than the true grapefruit. [1] The ovate to globose fruit has a wrinkled, medium-thick, pale orange-yellow rind when mature. The juicy, yellowish-orange, coarse-textured flesh has a subacidic, pleasant flavour with a trace of bitterness. [1] The fruit contain numerous monoembryonic seeds, although the important variant, 'Morrison Seedless' (or Morrison's Seedless), produces seedless fruit when not cross-pollinated. [1]

It does not require temperatures as high as other similar citrus, growing in New Zealand and cooler regions of southern California where other commercial grapefruits are not viable. This explains its dominance in New Zealand, while in Australia it cannot compete in popularity with locally grown cultivars. [1]

Strains

The long-dominant strain of the New Zealand grapefruit was the Morrison Seedless, but in the 1980s this was surpassed by a bud sport called the 'Golden Special' developed in a commercial orchard in Tauranga. In the 1970s, a grapefruit identical to the latter but with a deep orange rind, the 'Cutler Red’, was selected at Kerikeri. [4]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grapefruit</span> Citrus fruit

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandarin orange</span> Small citrus fruit

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Citrus unshiu is a semi-seedless and easy-peeling citrus species, also known as the satsuma mandarin or Japanese mandarin. During the Edo period of Japan, kishu mikans were more popular because there was a popular superstition that eating Citrus unshiu without seeds made people prone to infertility. Citrus unshiu became popular in Japan after modernization started in the Meiji period. It was introduced to the West from the Satsuma region of Japan in 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oroblanco</span> Cross between pomelo and grapefruit

The oroblanco, oro blanco, or sweetie is a citrus hybrid, resulting from a cross between an acidless pomelo and a Marsh grapefruit. Its fruit is oblate and mostly seedless, with a thick rind that remains green long after it has already matured. It has a sweet, mild taste, and lacks the bitterness generally associated with grapefruit. It requires less heat to grow than other varieties of grapefruit and are harvestable sooner. Oroblancos grown in moderate climates tend to yield the highest-quality fruit.

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The kishu mikan is a hybrid variety of mikan, or mandarin orange, found in Southern China and also grown in Japan.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melogold</span> Citrus fruit and plant

The Melogold or Melogold grapefruit is a citrus hybrid similar to the oroblanco; both result from a cross between the pomelo and the grapefruit and is a fruit similar to a sweet grapefruit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citrus taxonomy</span> Botanical classification of the genus Citrus

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hodgson, Robert William (1967). "Chapter 4: Horticultural Varieties of Citrus". In Reuther, Walter; Webber, Herbert John; Batchelor, Leon Dexter (eds.). The Citrus Industry. Vol. 1. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
  2. Wratt, G. S.; Smith, H. C. (2015). Plant Breeding in New Zealand. Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN   9781483103488 . Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 "New Zealand grapefruit / Poor man's Orange". Citrus Variety Collection. University of California Riverside. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  4. Mooney, Pauline, ed. (2001). Growing Citrus in New Zealand: A Practical Guide. Wellington: New Zealand Citrus Growers Incorporated. p. 12. ISBN   0-478-06829-8.