3 or 4 years ago someone gave me a seedling citrus labeled "Honeybell (C. Ichang x C. Cittemple). It may have been a seedling of one of Dr. Brown's trees. I am not sure who gave it to me, but this year it had one fruit.

A few friends and myself cut the fruit at the CE and shared in eating it. It had only a moderate number of seed (I would say 6-8, maybe less) and tasted like a good madarin, with no Ichang overtones.

The photo of the fruit on the plant was taken several weeks before the last two

Ned

Ned,
How soon till we can order your Honeybell trees?
Terry

Terry,

I only had two trees and a friend got one. I may bud a few next this spring, and may have a few in the fall or next year.

Ned

The variety usually called Honeybell is a tangelo. Mandarin x Grapefruit.
If yours really has Ichang as a parent, I would have expected some sign of the enlarged petiole. I couldn't see that in your photos.
Any chance there's been a mix-up somewhere?

Mike, it is certainly possible it was mislabeled. It was given to me as a seedling; with the label in the container (actually there were two plants). I too considered that the petiole was not as flared as one might expect with such a cross, but I left the name as it came to me. The leaf is narrow and long like one might expect in a kumquat, but the fruit does not resemble a kumquat. The drip end of the leaf has a very long gradual taper, which I have not been able to associate with any of the citrus is my collection, except maybe a Taichang Lemon. Actually, I thought it might be something from Dr. Brown's collection, but the folks who I thought might have given me such a seedling could not recall having done so. Anyway, it tastes good, and could possibly have some cold tolerance, so I will keep it around for observation.

If anyone recalls having given me the seedlings, I would like to hear from you.

Ned

Ned,
That was an attractive, good tasting fruit. Hopefully it is cold hardy. The plant looked great also.

It does not look like 'Minneola', which is often nicknamed "Honeybell" in Florida. Assuming it is not, it would be unfortunate if they're using the same name for a different fruit.

Dr. Manners, I am guessing the "Honeybell x (C. Ichang x C. Cittemple)" is indicating that this is a five(?) way cross. Citemple being a hybrid of poncirus and Temple orange, with this being crossed with C. Ichangensis and the resulting hybrid then crossed with Honeybell tangelo (a cross itself). Given that the fruit tastes good, this seems like an unlikely combination, but I had kept the name on the orginal tag, so I can keep up with how it came to me. Wish I had had the foresight to put the name of the person that gave it to me!

Ned

I have minneola tangelo and orlando. I check the leaves today, because I didn't remember broadly winged petioles on either. Here are some pictures of both along with the hybrid in question. I have to admit, there is still the Ichang, but it is a small part of the mix.

Left: Orlando, Top right: Hybrid, Bottom right: Minneola



Top: Minneola, Bottom left: Orlando Bottom right: Hybrid

Ned, Ok, I see what you're saying. That makes sense. The lack of an x after the word Minneola caused me to think it meant that the plant was Minneola, which was a cross of the varieties within the parentheses. Malcolm

Dr. Manners, Thanks for pointing out the missing x, I should have noticed that myself.

Ned

Ned- the four seeds I collected from your minneola x hybrid fruit are growing well for me. Two of the seeds each produced two seedlings. All of the seedlings are on their second set of leaves. It will be interesting to watch them grow.

Great Matt! I think mine was 3 or 4 years in the pot before it fruited, so maybe you won't have too long to wait. Were the seeds poly or mono?

Ned

Ned- the seedlings were poly