Si

m he orange is the fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae (see list of plants known

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as orange); it primarily refers to Citrus  ×  sinensis,[1] which is also called sweet orange, to distinguish

it from the related Citrus × aurantium, referred to as bitter orange. The sweet orange reproduces
asexually (apomixis through nucellar embryony); varieties of sweet orange arise through mutations. [2]
[3][4][5]

The orange is a hybrid between pomelo (Citrus maxima) and mandarin (Citrus reticulata).[2]

[6]
 The chloroplast genome, and therefore the maternal line, is that of pomelo.[7] The sweet orange has
had its full genome sequenced.[2]
The orange originated in a region encompassing Southern China, Northeast India, and Myanmar,[8]
[9]
 and the earliest mention of the sweet orange was in Chinese literature in 314 BC.[2] As of 1987,
orange trees were found to be the most cultivated fruit tree in the world.[10] Orange trees are widely
grown in tropical and subtropical climates for their sweet fruit. The fruit of the orange tree can be
eaten fresh, or processed for its juice or fragrant peel.[11] As of 2012, sweet oranges accounted for
approximately 70% of citrus production.[12]
In 2019, 79 million tonnes of oranges were grown worldwide, with Brazil producing 22% of the total,
followed by China and India. [13]

Contents

 1Taxonomy and terminology

 2Etymology
 3History
 4Varieties
o 4.1Common
 4.1.1Valencia
 4.1.2Hamlin
 4.1.3Other
o 4.2Navel
 4.2.1Cara cara
 4.2.2Other
o 4.3Blood
o 4.4Acidless
o 4.5Hybrid
 5Attributes
o 5.1Sensory factors
o 5.2Nutritional value and phytochemicals
o 5.3Grading
 6Cultivation
o 6.1Climate
o 6.2Propagation
o 6.3Harvest
o 6.4Degreening
o 6.5Storage
o 6.6Pests and diseases
 6.6.1Cottony cushion scale
 6.6.2Citrus greening disease
  6.6.3Greasy spot
 7Production
 8Products
 9See also
 10References
 11External links

Taxonomy and terminology

Main article: Citrus taxonomy
All citrus trees belong to the single genus Citrus and remain almost entirely interfertile. This
includes grapefruits, lemons, limes, oranges, and various other types and hybrids. As the interfertility
of oranges and other citrus has produced numerous hybrids and cultivars, and bud mutations have
also been selected, citrus taxonomy is fairly controversial, confusing or inconsistent. [12][14] The fruit of
any citrus tree is considered a hesperidium, a kind of modified berry; it is covered by
a rind originated by a rugged thickening of the ovary wall.[15][16]
Different names have been given to the many varieties of the species. Orange applies primarily to
the sweet orange – Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck. The orange tree is an evergreen, flowering tree, with
an average height of 9 to 10 m (30 to 33 ft), although some very old specimens can reach 15 m
(49 ft).[17] Its oval leaves, alternately arranged, are 4 to 10 cm (1.6 to 3.9 in) long and
have crenulate margins.[18] Sweet oranges grow in a range of different sizes, and shapes varying
from spherical to oblong. Inside and attached to the rind is a porous white tissue, the white,
bitter mesocarp or albedo (pith).[19] The orange contains a number of distinct carpels (segments)
inside, typically about ten, each delimited by a membrane, and containing many juice-filled
vesicles and usually a few seeds (pips).[20] When unripe, the fruit is green. The grainy irregular rind of
the ripe fruit can range from bright orange to yellow-orange, but frequently retains green patches or,
under warm climate conditions, remains entirely green. Like all other citrus fruits, the sweet orange is
non-climacteric. The Citrus sinensis group is subdivided into four classes with distinct
characteristics: common oranges, blood or pigmented oranges, navel oranges, and acidless
oranges.[21][22][23]
Other citrus groups also known as oranges are:

1. Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) is an original species of citrus, and is a progenitor of the

common orange.
2. Bitter orange (Citrus aurantium), also known as Seville orange, sour orange (especially when
used as rootstock for a sweet orange tree), bigarade orange and marmalade orange. Like the
sweet orange, it is a pomelo x mandarin hybrid, but arose from a distinct hybridization event. [24]
3. Bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia Risso), grown mainly in Italy for its peel, producing a
primary essence for perfumes, also used to flavor Earl Grey tea. It is a hybrid of bitter orange x
lemon.[25]
4. Trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata), sometimes included in the genus (classified as Citrus
trifoliata). It often serves as a rootstock for sweet orange trees and other Citrus cultivars.[26]
Mandarin oranges

An enormous number of cultivars have, like the sweet orange, a mix of pomelo and mandarin
ancestry. Some cultivars are mandarin-pomelo hybrids, bred from the same parents as the sweet
orange (e.g. the tangor and ponkan tangerine). Other cultivars are sweet orange x mandarin hybrids
(e.g. clementines). Mandarin traits generally include being smaller and oblate, easier to peel, and
less acidic.[27] Pomelo traits include a thick white albedo (rind pith, mesocarp) that is more closely
attached to the segments.
Orange trees generally are grafted. The bottom of the tree, including the roots and trunk, is called
rootstock, while the fruit-bearing top has two different names: budwood (when referring to the
process of grafting) and scion (when mentioning the variety of orange). [28]

Etymology
Main article: Orange (word)

The word orange derives from the Sanskrit word for "orange tree" (नारङ्ग nāraṅga), which in turn
derives from a Dravidian root word (compare நரந்தம்/നാരങ്ങ narandam/naranja which refers
to Bitter orange in Tamil and Malayalam).[29] The Sanskrit word reached European
languages through Persian ‫( نارنگ‬nārang) and its Arabic derivative ‫( نارنج‬nāranj).
The word entered Late Middle English in the fourteenth century via Old French orenge (in the
phrase pomme d'orenge).[30] The French word, in turn, comes from Old Provençal auranja, based on
Arabic nāranj.[29] In several languages, the initial n present in earlier forms of the word dropped off
because it may have been mistaken as part of an indefinite article ending in an n sound—in French,
for example, une norenge may have been heard as une orenge. This linguistic change is
called juncture loss. The color was named after the fruit,[31] and the first recorded use of orange as a
color name in English was in 1512.[32][33]

A closeup of an orange blossom

As Portuguese merchants were presumably the first to introduce the sweet orange to some regions
of Europe, in several modern Indo-European languages the fruit has been named after them. Some
examples are Albanian portokall, Bulgarian портокал (portokal),
Greek πορτοκάλι (portokali), Macedonian portokal, Persian ‫پرتقال‬ (porteghal), Turkish portakal and
Romanian portocală.[34][35] Re
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