A Look Back With a New Lens: Back Yard Citrus

Orlando tangelo
Originally uploaded by g_suttenfield

You know how every once in a while you find out that something you've known since childhood - so long you don't even remember learning it and you just "know" - turns out to be wrong? One of the interesting aspects of this memory project has been the process of shining new light on and re-evaluating some of those old bits of "knowledge". Uncovering the memory is just the start, because as you clear the dust off the memory, you're uncovering images as seen through the eyes of a child. Once you have reclaimed the memory - an image, a sound, a saying, whatever - you can begin to learn more about what was going on around you back then, partly just by virtue of seeing it through a broader lens born of being more experienced in the world, but you can also do simple research that can expand your understanding of your childhood environment. As a child, your limited world view necessarily hinders your ability to evaluate or understand anything beyond your immediate experience. You're also very impressionable, and if an adult tells you something, you will tend to accept it as fact, not being aware that adults don't know everything about which they speak.
Case in point: I started thinking about all the citrus trees in our back yard, and just like that, I've got a lot of questions:
It never ocurred to me before that it was odd, even for our neighborhood, to have so many varieties of tree. Why would someone have planted that many varieties of citrus in their yard? Was the originial home owner connected somehow to the citrus industry?
The tangerine tree that was the last tree in the 'very back' was always loaded with small, not very tasty fruit, and I seem to recall mom and dad referring to this tree as a "root stock" tree. Have you ever wondered what a root stock tree is and if, in fact, it was a root stock tree? The little bit I've learned doesn't rule out the idea: a root stock tree is used to propagate different varieties of tree and are chosen because of their growing characteristics like resistence to viruses, cold hardiness, tolerance for different soil types, and the like. Strangely, it seems you can graft one type of citrus onto a root stock of some other variety that has the characteristics you want, and it will just grow as the type you wanted. For instance, sour orange is a favorite root stock for much of the Texas grapefruit industry. Also odd, it seems that it is not uncommon for fruit trees grown from the seed to lose some of the quality of the original, thus the need for root stock propagation.
But think about it: who but a farmer would have a root stock tree in their yard? I would love to know something about the person who planted our trees.
We also had what we always called a 'ponderosa lemon' tree. I tell people about those grapefruit-sized lemons and they've never heard of them. I have never heard tell of or seen a ponderosa lemon tree since, so I was beginning to doubt if that was what it was called. Turns out, there really is such a thing, and there's a picture of one on my Flickr site (links in the side bar).
Now for the part about learning you were wrong about something since child hood: it has to do with the tangelo tree we had. You know, the one near the loquat trees. I seem to recall the one tree having two varieties of fruit on it. Anyway, tangelo, a cross between an orange and a tangerine, right? WRONG! This from a Purdue University web site:
"Tangelos; are deliberate or accidental hybrids of any mandarin orange and the grapefruit or pummelo. The first known crosses were made by Dr. Walter T. Swingle at Eustis, Florida, in 1897, and Dr. Herbert J. Webber at Riverside, California, in 1898. They are so unlike other citrus fruits that they have been set aside in a class by themselves designated Citrus X tangelo J. Ingram & H. E. Moore (C. X paradisi X C. reticulata).
Tangelos range from the size of a standard sweet orange to the size of a grapefruit, but are usually somewhat necked at the base. The peel is fairly loose and easily removed. The pulp is often colorful, subacid, of fine flavor and very juicy. The trees are large, more cold-tolerant than the grapefruit but not quite as hardy as the mandarin. Nucellar embryos are not uncommon in these hybrids and most of the cultivars are self-sterile, so a majority come true from seed. Tangelos are not commonly grown in California but are produced commercially and in home gardens in Florida. They are much more satisfactory on limestone in southern Florida than the sweet orange and are prized for their quality."
[Pummelos, btw, are Asian fruits resembling grapefruits - its a new one on me, too]
It gets more interesting and even closer to home: this article goes on to discuss the most popular cultivars and it turns out one of them was first introduced in Orlando in 1964:
'Nova'–a 'Clementine' tangerine and 'Orlando' tangelo cross made by Dr. Jack Bellows in 1942, first fruited in 1950, and released by the United States Department of Agriculture's Horticultural Field Station, Orlando, Florida, in 1964. Fruit is oblate to rounded, of medium size, 2 3/4-3 in (7-7.5 cm) wide, 2 1/2-2 3/4 in (6.25-7 cm) high; peel is orange to scarlet, thin, slightly rough, leathery, easy to remove; pulp dark-orange, with about 11 segments, of good, sweet flavor; seeds numerous if cross-pollinated; polyembryonic, green inside. Early in season (mid-September to mid-December). Does very well on 'Cleopatra' rootstock. The tree resembles that of the 'Clementine' tangerine, its twigs are thornless, and it is more cold-hardy than 'Orlando'. This cultivar is self-infertile and trials have shown that 'Temple' tangor is a good pollenizer.
'Orlando' (formerly Take')–result of 'Bowen' grapefruit pollinated with 'Dancy' tangerine, by Dr. Swingle in 1911. The fruit is oblate to rounded, of medium size, 3 in (7.5 cm) wide, 2 3/4 in (7 cm) high; peel deep-orange, slightly rough, not loose; pulp deep-orange, with 12 to 14 segments, melting, very juicy, sweet; seeds 10-12. Early in season but after 'Nova'. A good commercial fruit in Florida. Needs cross-pollination by 'Temple' tangor, or by 'Dancy' or 'Fairchild' tangerines. The presence of honeybees, even without interplanting with a pollinator tree, has greatly increased yields. 'Cleopatra' mandarin is often used as a rootstock on sandy soils, but higher yields have been obtained on sweet lime and rough lemon in Florida. In Texas, 'Orlando' is most productive on 'Swingle citrumelo', 'Morton citrange', 'Rangpur lime' and 'Cleopatra' mandarin. Fruit quality is best on 'Morton citrange', sour orange, 'Sun Cha Sha Kat', 'Keraji' and 'Kinokune' mandarins.
'Seminole'–a hybrid of 'Bowen' grapefruit and 'Dancy' tangerine; oblate, not necked; medium-large, 3 1/4 in (8.25 cm) wide, 2 3/4 in (7 cm) high; peel deep red-orange, thin, firm, almost tight but not hard to remove; pulp deep-orange with 11-13 segments, little rag, melting, of fine, subacid flavor; seeds small, 20-25, green inside. Early in season but holds well through March. Tree vigorous and high-yielding, scab-resistant; leaves with faint or no wings, tangerine-scented.
'Thornton'–a tangerine-grapefruit hybrid created by Dr. Swingle in 1899; oblate to obovate, a little rough and lumpy, puffy with age; medium-large, 3 1/4 -3 3/4 in (8.25-9.5 cm) wide, 2 7/8-3 1/4 in (7.25-8.25 cm) high; peel, light-orange, medium-thick, almost loose, easily removed; pulp pale- to deep-orange, with 10-12 segments, soft, melting, juicy, of rich subacid to sweet flavor; seeds slender, 10-25, green inside. Matures from December to March. Tree vigorous and high-yielding, large-leaved, well adapted to hot, dry regions of California. Fruit is a poor shipper.
I wonder which cultivar we had?
Types of trees I remember, starting with the "root stock" tangerine in the very back:
R/S tangerine, I think grapefruit (white?), orange (no telling what variety), was that it for the very back or am I forgetting one?
Then, in that mid-section of the yard, there was that small naval orange tree kind of in the middle of the yard. Somewhere in there we had planted an avacado, but I don't remember that obtaining any real size. I don't remember another until you hit the tangelo, adjacent to what I remember being two loquat trees (see the Flickr pic of a loquat). Then I remember a white grapefruit, the small ponderosa lemon tree, and then in the corner of the yard nearest the house was that monster pink grapefruit tree. The yield on that thing was, just guessing, 40 tons of fruit every year ! On the other side of the back yard was the one lime tree we had. Here is another mystery in that I seem to recall the limes on that tree being sour and not very useful. Anyway, on to the front yard, we, of course, had only the lemon tree. These I think we used quite often, though I can't say I remember ever being asked to go out and pick a lemon on demand... I just remember them being good lemons.
I may be forgetting one or two - was there a standard tangerine in there somewhere? More than one standard orange tree? Regardless, that makes at least nine varieties and ten trees - when you think about it, doesn't that seem unusual, like somebody was really into experimenting, or something.
Other fruiting trees or shrubs:
The finger bananas, of course, the fig trees in the very back, I seem to recall some wild black berries on the fence behind the sour tangerine, and the loquats.
Amazing to me now to look back and think about growing up around all that and yet I didn't think twice about it while living there. At the time, the small, hard, green fruit was just something to be used as projectiles in fruit wars with your brothers (what would have been the most likely time frame for those- I would guess we didn't do that much after being 11 or 12, so maybe 1975 or so? Or did we piss dad off so much we only did that a couple times before we figured out we better not do it?); or the trees just something you had to mow around; or the rotting fruit just something you had to avoid stepping on (can't you smell that smell on demand?).
Good night.