The 'Irwin' mango is a commercial
mango cultivar which was developed in
South Florida
South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...
.
History
The original Irwin tree was a seedling of the
Lippens cultivar that was open-cross pollinated with
Haden, planted on the property of F.D. Irwin in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
in 1939. The tree first bore fruit in 1945 and was named and described in 1949. The fruit gained commercial acceptance due to its good production, flavor, relative disease resistance, and attractive color. 'Irwin' has also been sold as a nursery stock tree for home growing in Florida.
Today, Irwin is grown on a commercial scale in a number of countries, including
Jeju
Jeju may refer to:
* Jeju Island (Jejudo), an island near South Korea
* Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo
**Jeju City, the biggest city on Jejudo
**Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo
** Jeju l ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, where it was introduced in the 1970s.
The Irwin mango was first
grown in Taiwan in 1962 by Cheng Han-chih (鄭罕池) in Douliuzai Village,
Yujing District, Tainan. In 1973 the government designated Douliuzai Village as a mango special agricultural zone. By the 1970s the residents of Douliuzai Village were known for their wealth due to mango cultivation. Cheng Han-chih is considered to be the godfather of Taiwan's lucrative modern mango industry. Irwin mangos have been the most popular mango in the Taiwanese market for fifty years.
Irwin trees are planted in the collections of the
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
's germplasm repository in Miami, the University of Florida's Tropical Research and Education Center in
Homestead, Florida, and the Miami-Dade
Fruit and Spice Park
The Fruit & Spice Park, formally known as the Preston B. Bird/Mary Heinlein Fruit & Spice Park, is a 37-acre park located in the heart of Redland, Florida, and is the only botanical garden of its kind in the United States. This park is operated b ...
, also in Homestead.
Description
Irwin fruit is of ovate shape, with a rounded base and a pointed apex, lacking a beak. The smooth skin develops an eye-catching dark red blush at maturity. The flesh is yellow and has a mild but sweet flavor and a pleasant aroma. It is fiberless and contains a
monoembryonic Monoembryony is the emergence of one and only one seedling from a seed. A seed giving two or more seedlings is polyembryonic. Some of the nuclear cells surrounding the embryo sac
In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to an ...
seed. The fruit typically mature from June to July in Florida
[http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg216 Table 1] and is often born in clusters.
The trees are moderately vigorous growers capable of exceeding 20 feet in height if left unpruned, developing open canopies.
References
See also
*
List of mango cultivars
The following is a list of some prominent mango cultivars. Worldwide, hundreds of mango cultivars are known, with over 1000 varieties in India.
Most commercial cultivars belong to ''Mangifera indica'', while a few commercial varieties grown in Sou ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin (Mango)
Mango cultivars
Flora of Florida