January 2010

Hello there. Welcome back for more citrus talk. What? You’ve heard enough? Hey, I got to visit the UC Riverside’s groves, and I’ve got a blog to write, so I’m going to juice it for all it’s worth.

In Riverside, located at the corner of Magnolia at Arlington Avenue, is a Parent Washington Navel Orange Tree. This tree is a State of California historic landmark No.22. This historic tree is one of two plants originally given to Eliza Tibbets by William Saunders, a horticulturist at the Department of Agriculture in 1873. Eventually, ownership reverted to the city of Riverside and it was transplanted to this location in 1902. With help from a horticultural technique called ‘inarching’, Riverside’s Parent Navel Orange Tree has since been re-vivified (definition!) with new roots and still bears fruit! The tree sits on this street corner, surrounded by a wrought iron fence, with thousands of cars passing by it every day.

Here’s the background:
In 1820, in a monastery garden in Bahia, Brazil, a hybrid of the Sweet Orange known as the Bahia Navel Orange was born. Brazil sent a dozen of these trees to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington D.C. in 1870.

Mrs. Eliza Tibbetts of Riverside, CA wrote to the U.S.D.A. in 1873 asking for two of the new Navel oranges, never knowing that she would revolutionize the commercial Orange industry in California.

This new mutant bud stock called the Bahia Navel, was renamed the Riverside Navel, and then renamed again the Washington Navel after George Washington for a more national appeal. All new varieties of Navel Oranges can trace their roots back to the Washington Navel.

The second of the original two trees was acquired by Frank A. Miller, founder of the famed Mission Inn. With the hands-on assistance of President Teddy Roosevelt, Miller transplanted it to the inn’s courtyard on May 8, 1903. That tree died in 1921 and was eventually replaced by an 11 year-old descendant.

California Navel Oranges are seedless and larger than the Sweet Orange. Its thick, bright orange skin is easy to peel and protects it for shipping. The sweet, full-bodied sections make it an excellent eating orange.

You cannot reproduce these orange trees by seed. Although a seed will grow, it will appear bush-like and dangerously thorny. This is known as a “Wild Sucker”. Oranges are typically grafted from a parent rootstock, and can generally be purchased at nurseries.

Additionally, I learned on the citrus tour that the Pink Lemonade tree is also a clone, all trees originally cultivated from a mutant branch of a Eureka lemon tree. I have one in my front yard, so from now on, I’ll look at my little tree with a more discerning eye. In fact, here’s a picture of my harvest from my Meyer and Pink Lemonade trees, plus the citron I got in Riverside for a little contrast.

Here are a few websites to peruse:
http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/home.html
www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu
www.sdfarmbureau.org
Asian Citrus Psyllid
Mediterranean Fruit Fly

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