Probably, Rusk leaves are typical citrange leaves. I have some seedlings outside. Let me go take a photo.

Ilya,

We can get quite cold here in zone 7a. This plant has easily seen single digits (F), and perhaps even down to 0 deg F. It is growing on a south wall though, and for many years was growing under a canopy of Trachy fronds.

Rusk seedling & fruit. (Beer cap for size)

I believe GregMartin enjoys eating them like a sweet orange.

Laaz,
The fruit do look awfully similar to your Rusk pictures, especially the second pic.

I wonder, could the local weather conditions contribute to differences in fruit quality (similar to Satsumas)? I've seen wildly differing opinions on how some of these Poncirus hybrids taste on this forum and elsewhere, with those grown in more northerly locations more frequently being described as fair to decent quality.

Or could this just be a case of lowered expectations?

Personally, I've had some Poncirus trifoliata fruit grown here in MA that actually tasted very much like a normal lemon, with no hint of bitterness. Of course you had to hold your nose to avoid the turpentine-like resin smell.

"lowered expectations" I would suspect. Mike grows trifoliata in the UK & has said his fruit are mostly seedless, here the fruit contain 30-50 seed per fruit. It may be a climate issue...

hey guys-

this is Boca Joe, I documented all of our unknown hardy citrus videos and photos. I also tasted 2 of the fruits.

I can assure you based on our taste testing and observations of the following:
There was NO BITTERNESS at all. Tasted most like a slightly sour (as in lemon) but sweet tangerine to me. The 1st flavor that came to mind was tangerine or mandarin!
The big thing was - there was barely any trifoliate taste/after taste, on a one to 10 with 10 being the worst bitter trifoliate taste, I'd say it was a 1 or 2 ,barely detectable. Very very little and defintely in the background. It was also pretty small like a mandarin size. Also our fruit was very orangey inside and out, like a tangerine coloring instead of the orange .

What got me was the great taste of the rind/zest too. No bitterness at all, very orangey tasting. How could the taste be so good and the rind so non-bitter and sweet?

Also no trifoliate aroma from the fruit itself or rind... a mystery but a good one.

The tree is about 15' high (checked it today) and planted in 2007. It has seen lows of between 5f and 0f during this time. The trachys have been in since about 2006 or so - seen lows of near 0f and extended periods below freezing up to 5 days, no noticable damage.

I did take more photos of the leaves today, maybe that would help an ID. We germinated about 16 seeds from the fruit and the are growing fast http://bocajoe.smugmug.com/Tropical-Plants-in-a-Non/Northern-VA-MD-Hardy-Citrus/27111507_x5rvZp#!i=2327781075&k=V9W7t9f

I will continue to update the photo album above with photos as the seedlings grow. I believe the seedling photos are on the 2nd page of the album.I also noticed yesterday one of the seedlings seems to have definite unifoliate leaves while all of the others are trifoliate. We'll see if that characteristic hangs on.

Please feel free to ask questions- we may never know what this is.

Thanks

Boca Joe

The strange thing is the serrated leaf edges, which is most common in lemons. The fruit look identical to my Rusk, but the leaves are very different.

It is definetely a very beautful plant and obviously edible.

Has the hardyness been tested yet ?

I meant the seedlings ...

Without a barf bag!

I see.

Thank you for your informations.