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Citrofortunella
Name - Citrofortunella's common name is calomondin orange. Fortunella
(which also applies to kumquats) is named after Robert Fortune (1812-1880), Scottish
horticulturist and collector in China (see Trivia below).
Description
- It is one of the citruses grown in pots for ornament as well as its small fruit.
It has glossy green leaves and small round attractive, edible orange fruit following
white blossom.
Family - Rutaceae (rue family)
Origin
- South-east Asia.
Care Tips - Very bright and sunny position all
year round, as long as you provide humidity. Best placed outdoors in the summer
and give it soft water (filtered, boiled and cooled or rainwater), mist frequently
and feed with half strength food every week. In winter make sure temperatures
are no lower than 10°C (50°F), water very sparingly and do not feed. They
will tolerate lower temperatures but will cease to grow. If you cannot place it
outside in summer, make sure you pollinate by hand by moving pollen to the stigma
with a brush - midday is the best time. Pinch out the tips of branches in spring
to keep it bushy.
Trivia - History Robert Fortune, who was briefly
curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden, travelled extensively in China and was engaged
by the East India Co to bring tea plants from China to India. Despite the understandable
secretiveness of the Chinese, he succeeded in investigating the growing techniques
and exporting plants, Chinese workers and tools to establish the tea industries
in India and Ceylon.
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