Citrus Growers Forum

Raksha · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 9 Location: San Bernardino, CA

The relevant pictures are the last three in my new citrus album on Webshots (the first four are kaffir lime). The tree is at a neighbor's house, two blocks from where I live in North San Bernardino, California. At first I thought this was an orange tree with small oranges about the size of ping-pong balls, but after lurking on this forum a couple of times and getting a closer look at the leaves I realized it's a trifoliata. I'd like to narrow it down a little better than that, but I'm a novice and definitely need some help in this area.

The fruits are smooth-skinned, not ribbed or pebbly, and as I said they look like small oranges about the size of ping-pong balls. They don't smell anything like oranges, though--in fact, they almost don't smell like citrus at all. They have an antiseptic, almost "medicinal" smell--very strange and not easy to describe.

The fruits fall off the tree as they ripen. The ground underneath was littered with them, and the owner said I could take all I wanted. He wasn't about to eat them and neither was anyone else...including me! I tasted a spoonful of the juice after I got them home, and it was sour and awful.

I just cut open another fruit and it had eight fully-developed seeds in it, as well as numerous undeveloped seeds which I didn't count. They are darker in color than most citrus seeds, and relatively big as compared to the size of the fruits. Here's the link to the pictures:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/569660718hiRDBn

About all I know at this point is that it isn't a Flying Dragon because it doesn't have the curved thorns. Any information anyone can give me would be much appreciated.

_________________
--Linda

Laaz · Posted: Sat 24 Jan, 2009 10:34 pm

It is probably a citrange. Trifoliata has a fuzz on the fruit, Citrange have a smooth shiny peel. Also the center leaf is much longer than the outer leaves, trifoliata normally has pretty similar size leaves throughout.

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Raksha · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 9 Location: San Bernardino, CA

Laez,

Thanks for your reply. The fruits of this tree are smooth and shiny and not fuzzy at all. And the center leaflet in each cluster is much longer than the two side leaflets. So I think you're probably right.

Is citrange also used as a rootstock plant? I never even heard of it before today!!!

P.S. Well, DUH!!! The post right after mine is called "C-35 Citrange" and this the rootstock forum! So I guess that answers my last question. I think I've been at the computer too long again.

_________________
--Linda

Laaz · Posted: Sun 25 Jan, 2009 12:44 am

C-35 is a very popular rootstock variety

http://ccpp.ucr.edu/variety/293.html

http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/trifoliates.html#c-35

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Raksha · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 9 Location: San Bernardino, CA

Laez,

Thank you so much for those links. They were extremely helpful. By studying the pictures and reading the descriptions, I think I've narrowed my tree (my neighbor's tree, actually) down to about four main possibilities. It's probably either a C-35 citrange, a C-32 or a Troyer or Carrizo citrange.

I'm going to get some more fruits (the ones I have are starting to get moldy!) and take some pictures of the fruit whole and cut, as well as some close-ups of the foliage. But I'm pretty sure now that it's a C-35 citrange.

_________________
--Linda

citrange · Posted: Tue 27 Jan, 2009 6:25 pm

Identifying citrange varieties is pretty difficult, as most people don't ever grow them to maturity.
Note that C35 and C32 were only released in 1987, and didn't become widely used for some years. So if your house is older than 15 or so years, these varieties are unlikely.
Troyer and Carizzo are very similar, if not identical. One name is preferred in Florida the other in California - I can't remember which way around it is!

buddinman · Posted: Sat 21 Mar, 2009 9:01 pm

It could even be Swingle from the looks of the leaf. The center leaf looks too large for Carrizo or troyer.

Raksha · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 9 Location: San Bernardino, CA

citrange wrote:

Identifying citrange varieties is pretty difficult, as most people don't ever grow them to maturity.
Note that C35 and C32 were only released in 1987, and didn't become widely used for some years. So if your house is older than 15 or so years, these varieties are unlikely.
Troyer and Carizzo are very similar, if not identical. One name is preferred in Florida the other in California - I can't remember which way around it is!

citrange,

Somehow I missed this note when you first posted it. The tree isn't at my house; it's at another house about two blocks north of me. But this is an old neighborhood, and I'm sure both the house and the tree were there long before 1987.

My guess is that both are at least 50 years old. I paid the tree another visit in February to take some more pictures, and I noticed something I completely missed the first time. Since nobody actually plants a citrange tree, I figured this one had grown up from the rootstock of an edible citrus. It has multiple trunks, so I assumed that the navel orange (?) or whatever had been grafted onto the citrange was long gone.

But it turns out that isn't 100% true--ALMOST, but not quite! One of the trunks has a single branch of the old bud union still there. The foliage on that branch is very different from the trifoliata-type foliage on the rest of the tree. The leaves are much larger and they are not trifoliate.

At the time I took the pictures most of the fruits had fallen off (I brought home a few more to save the seeds), and both the citrange and the grafted branch were flowering. It will be interesting to see what kind of fruit (if any) forms on the grafted branch. I don't know if the tree's owners are aware of the oddball branch or not. They aren't all that interested in the tree because the fruit is inedible, so they may never have observed it as carefully as I did.

I took a picture of the fruits in a bowl, along with one of the trifoliate leaves. I tried to get a picture of the grafted branch also but it didn't come out all that well.

I'll post again after I get the new pictures uploaded tonight or tomorrow. Then maybe we can narrow it down a little more.

_________________
--Linda

citrange · Posted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 7:12 am

Quote:

Since nobody actually plants a citrange tree

That could well be true in California, but here in England I've planted several citrange seedlings. I've now waited almost 15 years for the first signs of flowers and fruits, and I'm still waiting. But one day my neighbours are going to be amazed by seeing an outside tree covered in 'oranges'! As far as I have been able to find out, there are no fruiting citranges growing outside anywhere in the UK.

Raksha · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 9 Location: San Bernardino, CA

Everyone,

I finally got the three new citrange pictures posted to my citrus album. I hope the close-ups of the lower branch (what I think is the old bud union) show up. It isn't my house or my tree, so I didn't want to move anything.

Here's the link again:
http://community.webshots.com/album/569660718hiRDBn

--Linda

_________________
--Linda