Yesterday, I noticed that the supermarket, (Kroger) had Royal Oranges for sale. I have never heard of that variety of oranges. All of the other orange varieties were tagged with traditional names. The Royal Oranges offered were larger sized, seedy (15) fruit, with a rough pebbly semi-thick rind, and a rather dull uninteresting very yellow pulp. The rind was rather light reddish orange like some mandarins. I don't know if the fruit is a mandarin, or and orange. The orange had a normal Orange taste, but with a unusual tone. After peeling the fruit, the orange had a quite soft textures sort of lime a Minneola, but perhaps the fruit was over mature. Anyone know about this variety? - Millet

Nope, never encountered it. But be forewarned that any business entity can trademark names of their own choosing for any of the crops they are growing as long as the crops are not patented, or if they are the patent holders, they can trademark the names too.

For example, DWN has trademarked the fabric names for most of the pomegranate cultivars in the public germplasm for marketing purposes. Thus Royal Oranges can be possibly just trademarked name of perhaps a very common or overlooked orange in the germplasm.

I know of a friend who has trademarked Sweet Manila for the Ataulfo mangoes obtained from Mexico.

Trademarking of non-patent or public domain cultivars is more common. The major reason often cited are the particulars of a place, just like wines. Even if it is the same varietal, the places where grown becomes important, and so aside from Cabernet Sauvignon name, you would also begin to look for Napa, Sonoma, Champagne... Any other gimmick to pry dollars out of your wallet is fair game, including trademark names.

A description of the Royal variety appears on this page at Sunkist. Apparently it's a tangor.

Junglekeeper, EXACTLY. I don't know if you posted your response before I added additional descriptive information to my post or not. However, the Sunkist description is 100 percent right on. I saved the "Royal" seeds to plant, but now that I know it is a Temple "Orange" I will just throw them away. Thanks for the pots. Joe, I know what you mean, California "Cutie" mandarins are a case in point. - Millet

Junglekeeper, I looked at the paper sticker that was attached to the "Royal" orange and indeed the sticker is a Sunkist sticker. This bring up another question. The Sunkist sticker has number # 4455 printed on it. Does anyone know if this is the grower number or the packing house number. - Millet

It is the PLU (Price Look UP) code. You can find the meaning of these codes here:
http://legufrulabelofolie.fr/download/Codes%20PLU%20english.xls
For instance your code is: TANGERINES/MANDARINS Mandarin/Royal.

Sylvain, thank you. Yes it is the price code, however the description is technically "incorrect" as Temple is actually a tangor. - Millet

I found some organically grown ones at a local store that were somewhat smaller than a tennis ball. They looked like they had been in the bin for awhile and were less than inviting. So I was caught off guard by their delicious taste. Juicy. Very sweet, full flavored with a strong hint of mango. The tangy taste is a nice balance between sweetness and acidity. The physical description of the fruit is similar to Millet's. Seedy. Fruit nearly round with a slightly raised neck. Darker orange, semi-thick, pebbled rind. Easy to peel.

I'm hooked. This may become my favorite citrus fruit.