The age of oranges

THE POPULAR SWEET CITRUS IS REALLY A MANDARIN-POMELO CROSS THAT DATES BACK LITTLE MORE THAN A COUPLE OF MILLENNIA

Words Chloe Thomson

I normally start these family heirloom pieces by going back to many moons ago when the plant grew wild — so I was shocked to discover in my research that the orange tree was never in fact a wild plant. Thanks to genome sequencing, scientists today know that sweet oranges originated from a cross between a mandarin and a pomelo, which produced a sour orange. Further selection over time resulted in the sweet orange that has won the hearts of many. The first written evidence of a sour orange, mostly for medicinal purposes, comes from China around 320 BCE, while sweet oranges are first mentioned in European texts in the 1400s. From there their popularity and cultivation spreads around the globe as the trees grew quickly and easily in subtropical and Mediterranean climates. The juicy…

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Good Organic Gardening (Digital) - 1 Issue, 15.2

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