Because Red Valencia/Smith Red, being a limb sport from a regular Valencia orange, I am not surprised that the fruit can be held on the tree for extended periods. Thanks for the pictures Laaz, and Joe. What do we know about the red fruited citrus called Valentine? Valentine, was written up in the Fruit Grower (CRFG) magazine several months ago. I have not heard if it was ever released. - Millet

I think Citrusboy have seeds of those Valentines. It is in the USDA germplasm or the UCR collection but the budwoods are not publicly available through the CCPP.

The Valentine that I recall is a type of pummelo from the UCR Citrus Varietal collection:


But being a pummelo type, naturally, it wouldn't come true to type. Me want budwoods!!!

If Valentine would taste as good as the pink-fleshed grapefruits, it could be a big hit... Now to make it seedless, perhaps with GA3.

But with its pigmentation, I woudn't graft Valentine unto my pigmented orange tree. I would assemble a pigmented grapefruit pummelo tree perhaps.

Perhaps that is the fruit, however, I seem to recall that it was an orange. I will have to look through my old Fruit Gardner magazines (I never throw them away) and get back with an answer. I would not be interested in seeds, as I'm getting to old to wait around for a seedling tree to bloom. With that being said, just today I planted 14 Temple seeds. I will choose one or perhaps two of the most vigorous seedling to grow on. As Temple does not come true from seed it might be interesting to see what comes of it, but like I said, I am going to have to stop planting them. - Millet

I have a plant called Rohde Red Valencia with a lot of fruit on it right now and also loaded with flower buds. Yes, that is the correct spelling, although it looks odd and you often see it as Rhode Red. My Valencia is also loaded with fruit and a few flower buds. My Red Valencia has a darker, better colored juice and a bit better flavor, although both are quite good. We harvested seven different varieties (Red Valencia, Valencia, Pineapple, Midsweet, Hamlin, a few Pages, and a blood orange) this weekend and did a juice taste comparison. My wife thinks the Hamlin is mislabeled, as it had a look of a blood orange. Unfortunately, she had squeezed them before I had a look at the cross section, so I don't know about its color. The blood orange is of unknown variety. I have a Moro and a Sanguinielli, plus this unknown variety. If the Hamlin turns out to be a blood orange, so much the better. There are no more fruit on the tree, so I cannot check until next season.

Thanks to Tolumnia, for posting on this thread, as it has brought me back here. I had forgotten to check my passed issues of CRFG's Fruit Gardner magazines for the story on the red fruited Valentine, I found the story in the February 2007 issue. Joe was correct in that it is a pummelo hybrid. Valentine is a pummelo/mandarin/orange hybrid. It is a cross of a Siamese Sweet pummelo X (Dancy mandarin X Ruby blood orange). It gets it large size from the pummelo parent, the floral taste for its Dancy parent, and the juicy red pulp from the ruby blood orange. However, I don't think it has ever been released by UCR. - Millet

Thanks for the info Millet! I am waiting for the release of Valentines. I had hoped that they announce the release this Valentines... Well there's still next year's Valentines.

Joe, when Valentine is released, remember me, as I would like to go in with your order. - Millet

Will sure do and announce it here the moment I learned of it.