Will blood orange come true from seed?

Yes, all blood oranges come true when planted from a seed. - Millet

Like MOST other citruses, they COULD come true to type.

There is a chance that they won't, especially if you are hybridizing and able to distinguish between hybrid and true to type.

It also depends what cultivars are included in the definition of blood oranges. For example, Vainiglia Sanguigno is grouped under blood oranges, and it is easily pollinated by other cultivars and so have bigger chances of hybrid seedlings. Some pigmented flesh clementines or mandarins are also grouped under blood oranges by other people, and we know the tendency of clementines to produce hybrids easier than other cultivars (that is why we have way more clementine mandarins than navels). But the pigmented clementine that I know is practically seedless, but infrequently will have a seed or two.

Joe, "hybrids" really do not pertain to the vast majority of citrus, except in the small case of a zygote and most zygote's are killed (squeezed out) by the growth of the nucelar seedlings. I don't believe anyone is talking about Clementines being classified as blood oranges. - Millet

I believe citrus are actually classified as being a blood orange or just a colored fruit depends on whether the red coloration is caused by the pigment anthocyanin as in blood oranges such as Moro, or lycopene as in Cara Cara and many grapefruit.- Millet

I thought the defining thing for blood oranges was the type of red pigment, whether it was an anthocyanin or something else. From Wikipedia

"Cara Cara or Pink Navel and the Vainiglia Sanguigno's pigmentations are based on lycopene instead of anthocyanins of the true blood oranges."

Millet,

Looks like we hit it about the same time. Are you going to the Expo in Georgia?

Joe, I did check the CCPP web site and found, as you wrote, Vainiglia Sanguigno's listed with the blood oranges. I wrote Mr. John Bash of the CCPP a letter asking why they have listed Vainiglia Sanguigno in that manner. I post his answer. Take care. - Millet

Here are the responses that I received from the University of California Riverside, and CCPP as to why Vainiglia Sanguigno is listed with blood oranges. Reading Dr. Roose's reply, It seems that it should not be classified with the blood oranges, but should be listed with the sweet oranges.

Below are the replies I received:

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Robert,
I am sorry but I am not able to answer your question. We at the CCPP do not classify any of the citrus varieties in our collection but rather go by the recommendations of the experts from the UCR Department of Botany and Plant Sciences in classifying varieties.

You may want to contact Mikeal Roose, Botany Department at UCR for an answer to your question.
John Bash
Citrus Clonal Protection Program
Department of Plant Pathology
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521

Then I got the following letter from Mikeal Roose of UCR Botany Department:

To my knowledge, this classification was done long ago and no one has since thought about it. It does not seem justifiable to me. I suppose that we should simply class it as a sweet orange (as Cara Cara is classed as a navel). Tracy and Robert Krueger - what say you?
M. Roose

If I hear from Robert Kruger (whom I personally know), I will post his response. - Millet

Here is a letter that I received from Dr. Robert Krueger of the CCPP concerning the incorrect placement of Vainiglia Sanguigno with the blood oranges.

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I agree. The lycopene pigmented oranges are not usually considered blood oranges. I guess this is one that as Mike noted, slipped between the cracks at CVC.

I also received the following letter from Tracy Kahn head of the Citrus Variety Collection (CVC)

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I am still in China so this note will be short for now. It makes sense to include it with Sweet Oranges. My understanding is that part of our efforts to coordinate our websites (CCPP and CVC) will include making sure that we are listing varieties in the same groups. Anna and Toni had some preliminary discussion about the groupings, but more needs to be discussed and done to make sure we are on the same page. TK

Just remember or mention that Joe Real spotted that grouping of Vainiglia Sanguigno under blood oranges a long time ago but my observations doesn't count much. It has to come not from Joe Real to be credible, so it seems. I mentioned it again here. You can search the postings in this forum as proof.

I also have noticed anthocyanin pigmentations in the Salustiana orange and have posted it first here also, again if you search the archives. The pigmentations are exactly similar to the blood oranges such as Burris, Vacarro, Sanguine Grosse Ronde, Pignu, and Entre Fina. All thanks to Marc ( Citrusboy ) for sending me real fruit samples of these unreleased blood oranges and so have documented my ratings about them in this forum as well.

I have pictures posted about such anthocyanin pigmentations of the Salustiana, so the Salustiana should not be grouped under Sweet Oranges.

I am suggesting though a group of Pigmented Sweet Oranges, because both the Lycopene and Anthocyanin pigmentations have anti-oxidant properties and better medicinal benefits than regular blond oranges. You can search the archives of the credible PubMed and other scientific journals.

The one thing about true blood oranges and their pigmentations is that it doesn't consistently show up like those of Cara-cara and Vainiglia Sanguigno. For example, all blood oranges mentioned here will not show pigmentations in tropical areas like Florida and the Philippines. Even in coastal areas of California, the pigmentations of Moro and Tarocco are not consistent in most years, and they resort back to blond oranges.

Joe, thanks to your observation of Vainiglia Sanguigno being found in the blood orange listing, we must have really caused a stir at CCPP and CVC. The four responses we received accounts for just about all the who's who at CCPP and CVC. I only wrote one letter, and that was to John Bash at CCPP, from there it went up the chain through CCPP and CVC. The letter got four responses. In a short time we should see Vainiglia Sanguigno moved to sweet oranges. Joe, thanks again, nice going. - Millet