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Citrus ×clementina
Also called Sour Orange, Seville Orange, Bitter Orange, Bigarade, Guntur Sour Orange, Kichili, King Orange
The clementine is a seedless citrus hybrid between mandarin and sweet orange, grown as a small evergreen fruit tree in warm climates. Key to success is warmth, full sun, and keeping pollinators away from the grove so the fruit stays seedless.
A clementine (Citrus × clementina) is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange (C. × deliciosa) and a sweet orange (C. × sinensis), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who first discovered and propagated the cultivar in Algeria. The exterior is a deep orange colour with a smooth, glossy appearance. Clementines can be separated into 7 to 14 segments. Similar to tangerines, they tend to be easy to peel. They are typically juicy and sweet, with less acid than oranges. Their oils, like other citrus fruits, contain mostly limonene as well as myrcene, linalool, α-pinene and many complex aromatics.
They are sometimes sold under the name easy-peelers.
Clementines differ from other citrus in having lower heat requirements, which means the tolerance to fruit maturity and sensitivity to unfavorable conditions during the flowering and fruit-setting period is higher. However, in regions of high total heat, the Clementine bears fruit early.
It was introduced into Californian commercial agriculture in 1914, though it was grown at the Citrus Research Center (now part of the University of California, Riverside) as early as 1909. Clementines lose their desirable seedless characteristic when they are cross-pollinated with other fruit. In 2006, to prevent this, growers—such as Paramount Citrus in California—threatened to sue local beekeepers to keep bees away from their crops.
Calamansi · Citrofortunella · Nasnaran Mandarin · Ada Jamir · Key lime · Bitter orange · Bergamot orange · Ichang Lemon or Ichang papeda · Celebes papeda · Heen naran · Daidai · Citrus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Clementine by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
