Great variety
The orange, in Latin Citrus sinensis, shows an almost unbelievable variety of varieties. There are countless cultivated and wild varieties as well as hybrids, ie crosses of different citrus species. The bitter orange, Citrus aurantium L., which is very similar to the sweet orange, differs mainly in its bitter fruit, a specific smell and strongly winged leaf stalks.
It is used to make bitter orange jam. Citrus limetta Risso, the sweet lemon or lime, on the other hand, bears small, round fruits with a thin, yellow-green skin and greenish, sweet and sour flesh.
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Overview of the citrus family
The citrus fruit family is home to a number of very decorative plants that are wonderfully suitable for traditional container keeping.
- Lemons
- Sweet oranges
- Mandarins
- Tangelo and Tangor
- Grapefruit and grapefruit
- Bitter oranges
- Sweet lemons (limes)
- Kumquats
- Papedas
- Bitter lemons
The main varieties of the sweet orange
The most important groups of varieties of the sweet orange include navel, valencia and blood oranges.
Navel oranges have particularly large fruits
Navel oranges are one of the most popular types of oranges. Its large fruits are particularly sweet, juicy and aromatic. As a specialty, these species have a small “fruit in the fruit”. The plants produce beautiful, dark green and dense bushes in pots. Navel oranges have very fragrant flowers that appear several times a year.
Juicy Valencia oranges
Valencia oranges are also often referred to as juice oranges. The pulp of the tennis ball-sized fruits tastes a bit more sour than that of the navel oranges, but is very juicy. The oranges ripen extremely late, usually in May or June of the following year. If there is a lot of fruit hanging in the tub culture, the fruits can also remain much smaller. Timely fruit thinning in early summer helps to provide more nutrients to the remaining fruits. Orange trees of this variety form a dense, rather spherical crown.
Sugar-sweet sugar oranges
As with limes and lemons, there are also low-acid forms of oranges that are grown in some countries as curiosities or for children. Sugar oranges are often eaten by children or people who cannot tolerate the high acidity of normal citrus fruits. The fruits have a sugar content comparable to normal oranges, but are almost acid-free and therefore taste very sweet.
Fruity blood oranges
Blood oranges stand out due to their light red to almost black-brown pigmentation, depending on the variety. The red color of the pulp usually only develops in cold autumn temperatures. The fruits of the blood orange have a fruity blackberry aroma when fully ripe and thus differ from normal juice oranges.
Tips & Tricks
The blood orange variety “Tarocco” has larger fruits than the other blood oranges, is seedless and also has the highest vitamin C concentration of all citrus fruits.
