''Citrus unshiu'' is a semi-seedless and easy-peeling
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 ...
species, also known as miyagawa mandarin, unshu mikan,
cold hardy mandarin,
satsuma mandarin,
satsuma orange, naartjie,
and tangerine.
''Citrus unshiu'' was named after
Unshu (Wenzhou), a famous production area of
mandarin oranges
The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-coloured ...
in China, in the late
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
of Japan.
It is said to have originated in either Japan or China, and because of its name, it is often described as originating in China;
[The Satsuma Mandarin](_blank)
University of Florida[ "probable origin in Kyushu islands, Japan or imported from China to Japan."] however, due to multiple genetic studies conducted in the 2010s, the theory that the maternal species of ''Citrus unshiu'' was ''
Kishu
The , sometimes called ''Kishu Inu'' or ''Kishu dog'', is a Japanese breed of dog. It is descended from ancient medium-sized breeds and named after the Kishu region, now Mie Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture. It was designated a living nati ...
'' (''Citrus kinokuni'') and the paternal species was ''Kunenbo'' (''Citrus nobilis'' Lour. var. ''kunip'') and that it was created in the
Satsuma province
was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Satsuma" in . Its abbreviation is .
History
Satsuma's provincial capital was Satsumasendai. Durin ...
in Japan became more credible.
During the Edo period, ''Kishu'' was the most popular because there was a popular superstition that eating ''Citrus unshiu (Satsuma)'' without seeds made people more prone to infertility. ''Citrus unshiu'' became popular in Japan after the modernization started in the
Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
.
It was introduced to the West from the Satsuma region of Japan in 1878.
Nomenclature
The unshiu is known as () in China, and in Japan (or formally , the
Japanese reading of the characters used in Chinese). In both languages, the name means "honey citrus of
Wenzhou
Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...
" (a city in
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
province, China). An alternative Chinese name, (), means "seedless
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 ...
".
One of the English names for the fruit, ''satsuma'', is derived from the former
Satsuma Province
was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Satsuma" in . Its abbreviation is .
History
Satsuma's provincial capital was Satsumasendai. Durin ...
in Japan, from which these fruits were first exported to the West.
The
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
name is also used in
South African English
South African English (SAfrE, SAfrEng, SAE, en-ZA) is the set of English language dialects native to South Africans.
History
British settlers first arrived in the South African region in 1795, when they established a military holding op ...
. It came originally from the
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
word , meaning citrus.
Classification
Under the
Tanaka classification system, ''Citrus unshiu'' is considered a separate species from the
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 ...
. Under the
Swingle system, unshius are considered to be a group of mandarin varieties.
Genetic analysis has shown the Satsuma to be a highly inbred mandarin-
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 ...
hybrid, with 22% of its genome, a larger proportion than seen in most mandarins, coming from pomelo. It arose when a mandarin of the low-pomelo huanglingmiao/kishu variety (placed in ''C. reticulata'' by Tanaka) was crossed with a pomelo or pomelo hybrid, then the resulting cultivar was
backcross
Backcrossing is a crossing of a hybrid with one of its parents or an individual genetically similar to its parent, to achieve offspring with a genetic identity closer to that of the parent. It is used in horticulture, animal breeding, and product ...
ed with another huanglingmiao/kishu mandarin.
[ and Supplement]
Characteristics
![Citrus_unshiu_20101118_b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Citrus_unshiu_20101118_b.jpg)
''Citrus unshiu'' is one of the sweetest citrus varieties.
It is usually seedless, and is about the size of other
mandarin orange
The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-coloured ...
s (''Citrus reticulata''). Satsumas are known for their loose, leathery skin; the fruit is very easily peeled in comparison to other citrus fruits.
The rind is often smooth to slightly rough with the shape of a medium to small flattened sphere.
Satsumas usually have 10 to 12 easily separable segments with tough membranes.
The flesh is particularly delicate, and cannot withstand the effects of careless handling.
Coloring of the fruit is often dependent on climate; satsumas grown in humid areas may be ripe while the skin is still green while those grown in areas with cool night temperatures may see a brilliant reddish orange skin at peak.
Satsumas are cold-hardy, and when planted in colder locations, the fruit becomes sweeter from the colder temperatures. A mature satsuma tree can survive down to or even for a few hours.
Of the edible citrus varieties, only the
kumquat
Kumquats (; zh, 金桔), or cumquats in Australian English, are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae. Their taxonomy is disputed. They were previously classified as forming the now-historical genus ''Fortun ...
is more cold-hardy. Satsumas rarely have any thorns, an attribute that also makes them popular.
[ They can be grown from seed, which takes about eight years until the first fruits are produced, or grafted onto other ]citrus rootstock Citrus rootstock are plants used as rootstock for citrus plants. A rootstock plant must be compatible for scion grafting, and resistant to common threats, such as drought, frost, and common citrus diseases.
Principal rootstocks
Five types of rootst ...
s, such as 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 ...
.
History
United States of America
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
brought the fruit from Asia to North America in the 18th century, starting groves in the Jesuit Plantation upriver from (then a part of New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
). The municipal street "Orange" in New Orleans, was originally named "Rue Des Orangers" and the site of the Jesuit grove. The groves were later re-cultivated farther south in Plaquemines Parish
Plaquemines Parish (; French: ''Paroisse de Plaquemine'', Louisiana French: ''Paroisse des Plaquemines'', es, Parroquia de Caquis) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 23,515 at the 2020 census, the parish ...
to provide greater protection from harmful frosts, and have continued to the present day. The Becnel family are the largest growers of Louisiana citrus.
The fruit became much more common in the United States starting in the late 19th century. In 1878 during the Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
, Owari mikans were brought to the United States from the Satsuma Province
was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Satsuma" in . Its abbreviation is .
History
Satsuma's provincial capital was Satsumasendai. Durin ...
in Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
, Japan, by the spouse of the US Minister to Japan, General Van Valkenburgh, who renamed them satsumas. Between 1908 and 1911 about a million Owari mikan trees were imported throughout the lower Gulf Coast states. Owari is still commonly grown in Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. The towns of Satsuma, Alabama
Satsuma is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 6,749, up from 6,168 at the 2010 census. Known prior to 1915 as "Fig Tree Island", the city was named after the satsuma orange, which was successf ...
, Satsuma, Florida
Satsuma is an unincorporated community in Putnam County, Florida, United States. Its ZIP code is 32189, and the main road through the community is U.S. Route 17
U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coast ...
, Satsuma, Texas Satsuma (also Ashford and Thompson Switch) is an area in northern unincorporated Harris County, Texas, United States.
Satsuma is located along U.S. Highway 290 southeast of the community of Cypress and northwest of the city of Jersey Village. It ...
, and Satsuma, Louisiana
Satsuma is an unincorporated community in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. It owes its origin to the US Post Office Department rule which does not permit two post offices in the same state to have the same name. Satsuma is located on U ...
were named after this fruit. By 1920 Jackson County in the Florida Panhandle had billed itself as the "Satsuma Capital of the World." However, the commercial industry was damaged by a cold snap in 1911, a hurricane in 1915, and a very cold period in the late 1930s.
Distribution
''Citrus unshiu'' is amongst others grown in Japan, Spain, central China, Korea, the US, South Africa, South America, New Zealand, and around the Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
.
Varieties
''Unshiu'' varieties cluster among the 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 ...
family. There are, however, some hybrids.
Possible non-hybrids
* Kishu mikan
The kishu mikan (''Citrus kinokuni'' ex Tanaka) is a hybrid variety of mikan, or mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), found in Southern China and also grown in Japan. It is not closely related to the common sweet orange, but it is closely r ...
* Ōgonkan
or are the common names for a small sized variety of Japanese citrus, whose rind is of a characteristic "golden" bright yellow color.
The variety has been published as the species ''Citrus flaviculpus'' by Chōzaburō Tanaka in his 160-species ...
or Ki-mikan
* Komikan
Komikan (from the Mapuche kom ikan "to eat all") is a two-player abstract strategy board game of the Mapuches (known by the Spaniards as the Araucanians) from Chile and Argentina. The same game is also played by the Incas under the name Taptana, ...
Hybrids
* Amanatsu
or is a yellowish orange citrus hybrid fruit, a group of cultivars of ''Citrus natsudaidai'', which were discovered in 1740 in the Yamaguchi prefecture of Japan.
Names
''Amanatsu'' means "sweet summer" in Japanese. In Japan, the fruit is kn ...
(pumello hybrid)
* Kinkoji unshiu
Kinkoji unshiu (''Citrus obovoidea'' × ''unshiu'') is a ''Citrus'' hybrid cultivated for its edible fruit.
Genetics
Kinkoji unshiu is a graft hybrid between the kinkoji (''Citrus obovoidea'') and the satsuma mandarin (''Citrus unshiu'').
Dist ...
(''C. obovoidea''(kinkoji) × ''C. unshiu'')
* 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 ...
** 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 ...
is a kiyomi hybrid
* Kobayashi mikan
Kobayashi mikan (''Citrus natsudaidai'' x ''unshiu'') is a ''Citrus'' hybrid cultivated for its edible fruit.
Genetics
Kobayashi mikan is a graft hybrid between an amanatsu (''Citrus natsudaidai'') and a satsuma mandarin (''Citrus unshiu'').
D ...
(''C. natsudaidai'' × ''C.unshiu'')
* Shonan Gold
* Iyokan
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, arising from a cross between the Dancy tangerine and anot ...
References
External links
The Satsuma Tangerine – University of Florida
{{Authority control
unshiu
Fruits originating in East Asia
Japanese fruit
Medicinal plants of Asia
Chinese fruit