''Citrus reshni'' also known as Cleopatra mandarin is a

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

tree that is commonly used in agriculture as a rootstock of different cultivated species of citrus, mostly orange, grapefruit, tangerine and lemon. It originated in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and later was introduced to Florida from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

in the mid-nineteenth century. The Cleopatra mandarin fruit belong to the "acidic" group of mandarins, which are too sour to be edible. When they are grown it is for the rootstock or for juice production. The

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...

can handle multiple soil conditions including tolerance to the presence of limestone, salinity and soil

alkalinity Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength ...

along with being suitable for shallow soils. It is resistant to

citrus tristeza virus Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) is a viral species of the genus ''Closterovirus'' that causes the most economically damaging disease to its namesake plant genus, ''Citrus''. The disease has led to the death of millions of ''Citrus'' trees all over ...

and exocortis but is sensitive to root asphyxia and

Phytophthora ''Phytophthora'' (from Greek (''phytón''), "plant" and (), "destruction"; "the plant-destroyer") is a genus of plant-damaging oomycetes (water molds), whose member species are capable of causing enormous economic losses on crops worldwide, a ...

. One of the down sides to using the rootstock is it grows slow in the early years. In the right conditions it can induce high productivity and excellent fruit quality, although these are usually somewhat smaller than with others.

References

reshni {{agri-stub