Cleo, Chota, Billi Kichili

Citrus reshni hort. ex Tanaka RUTACEAE

CRC 3844

PI 539492

VI 392       

Photos by David Karp and Toni Siebert, CVC. Photo rights.

Source: Received as seed from CRC 1461, Riverside, Calif., 1961.

Parentage/origins: Open pollinated seedling.

Rootstocks of accession: Carrizo citrange, C-35 citrange

Season of ripeness at Riverside: Year-round

Description from The Citrus Industry Vol. 1 (1967):

" Citrus reshni Hort. ex Tan. —This species is the chota or billi kichili of India and the Cleopatra mandarin of the United States.  The tree is attractive, round-topped, symmetrical, and thornless, with small, dark-green leaves.  The fruit is orange-red, small, oblate, and highly depressed at the apex, with thin, somewhat rough rind.  The flesh texture is soft and juicy and the flavor is somewhat acid.  Seeds are small, polyembryonic, and have green cotyledons.
      Considered to be native to India and said to have been introduced into Florida from Jamaica sometime prior to 1888, C. reshni is increasingly important as a rootstock in the United States and elsewhere.  It is an attractive ornamental and bears fruit the year round."

Availability: Commercially available in California through the Citrus Clonal Protection Program.

USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network page for Cleopatra mandarin