Iyokan is a Japanese citrus hybrid (Citrus × iyo) that looks like a mandarin, with a thick, shiny peel and tart, slightly bitter flesh. It is grown as an orchard tree in warm, sunny, frost-free climates, and the sources cover it as a fruit crop rather than a houseplant.
Family
Rutaceae (Citrus family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply during dry spells and keep the root zone evenly moist while fruiting, but avoid waterlogging.
Soil
Well-drained, slightly acidic loam.
Temperature
Prefers warm conditions; protect below about -5 °C and avoid prolonged frost.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
About
The iyokan (伊予柑 - Citrus × iyo), also known as anadomikan (穴門みかん) and Gokaku no Iyokan, is a Japanese citrus fruit, similar in appearance to a mandarin orange, with Dancy as the pollen parent and Kaikokan as the seed parent. It is the second most widely produced citrus fruit in Japan after the satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu). Ehime Prefecture accounted for 90% of Iyokan production in 2021.
Iyokan was discovered in 1886 in the orchard of Masamichi Nakamura, a resident of Yamaguchi Prefecture. In 1889, Yasunori Miyoshi, a resident of Ehime Prefecture, bought the original tree and brought it home, and it became a specialty of Ehime Prefecture. Originally marketed as "Iyo mikan", it was renamed "Iyokan" in 1930 to avoid confusion with Unshu mikan (Citrus unshiu). The name "Iyo" was taken from the ancient name of a place in Ehime Prefecture, the Iyo province.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Iyokan 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.