Ponkan (); ''Citrus poonensis''; "Chinese Honey Orange") is a high-yield sweet ''
Citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...
''
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...
with large fruits in the size of an
orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
. It is a
citrus hybrid
Citrus taxonomy refers to the botanical classification of the species, varieties, cultivars, and graft hybrids within the genus ''Citrus'' and related genera, found in cultivation and in the wild.
Citrus taxonomy is complex and controversial. ...
(
mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
×
pomelo
The pomelo ( ), ''Citrus maxima'', is the largest citrus fruit from the family Rutaceae and the principal ancestor of the grapefruit. It is a natural, non-hybrid, citrus fruit, native to Southeast Asia. Similar in taste to a sweet grapefr ...
),
though it was once thought to be a pure mandarin.
Description
"Pon" harkens to the "Poona orange" of original stockand "kan" means citrus fruit. The fruit is very sweet, round in shape and about wide in size. Trees are heavy bearing every other year, and sometimes the limbs break due to the heavy yields. Growers resort to propping the limbs up with sticks at times, though if the limb bends gradually down and grows in that position it will do better in future years.
Trees can be propagated by seed, as they breed true, or grafted onto other rootstocks,
trifoliate orange
The trifoliate orange, ''Citrus trifoliata'' or ''Poncirus trifoliata'', is a member of the family Rutaceae. Whether the trifoliate oranges should be considered to belong to their own genus, ''Poncirus'', or be included in the genus ''Citrus'' is ...
being the most popular. Andrew Willis of
Apopka, Florida
Apopka is a city in Orange County, Florida. The city's population was 55,000 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area. ''Apopka'' comes from Seminole word ''Ahapopka'' for "Potato eating ...
, promoted the Ponkan heavily in the early 1900s.
Ponkan is also noted for having a loose rind that is very easy to peel.
Cultivation
Ponkans are widely grown in the United States, Brazil, Japan and China. In Taiwan, it is an important citrus crop often cultivated as high-end fruit and exported mainly to Hong Kong, Japan, and Canada.
It was originally introduced to the United States by Carlo Roman in 1880. His original grove is still in production near
Hawthorne
Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Hawthorne may also refer to:
Places
Australia
*Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane
Canada
* Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario
United States
* Hawt ...
in
Putnam County, Florida
Putnam County is a county located in the northern part of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 73,321. Its county seat is Palatka.
Putnam County comprises the Palatka, FL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is inc ...
. The city of
Teresópolis
Teresópolis (, , , ) is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in a mountainous region known as ''Região Serrana''. The Serra dos Órgãos National Park lies partly within the city limits. The city is known as the hom ...
in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
holds an annual Ponkan festival.
Festa da Ponkan, Teresópolis (Portuguese)
See also
*Dekopon
is a seedless and sweet variety of satsuma orange.
It is a hybrid between Kiyomi and ponkan (Nakano no.3), developed in Japan in 1972.
Originally a brand name, "Dekopon" has become a genericized trademark and it is used to refer to all brands ...
, variety of seedless oranges produced as a hybrid between Kiyomi
(''Citrus unshiu'' × '' sinensis'') is a Japanese citrus fruit that is a hybrid of a ''Miyagawa Wase'' mikan and an orange. The new breed was the first tangor created in Japan in 1949. It was named Kiyomi after the temple and the lagoon near ...
(''Citrus unshiu × sinensis'') and Ponkan
Notes
External links
Ponkan
at the Citrus Variety Collection
The UCR Citrus Variety Collection (CVC) is one of the most important collections of citrus diversity in the world. It is used for research, plant breeding, and educational extension activities on the UC Riverside campus in Riverside, California.
...
{{Taxonbar, from=Q11862754
Citrus
Fruits originating in East Asia
Japanese fruit