Citrus limon L. Burm.f.

CRC 280
PI 539292

Source

Received as seed from Dr. Fawcett's #128, Florida collection, 1914.

Parentage/origins

Said to be of Sicilian origin.

Rootstocks of accession

Yuma Ponderosa lemon.

Season of ripeness at Riverside

Fruit indistinguishable from Eureka, but seasonal distribution of crop more like Lisbon, mainly in winter.

Notes and observations

Probably the most typical Villafranca in the collection--WPB 1/81.

12/04/1987, EMN: Fruit examined-is a market type lemon.

Description from The Citrus Industry Vol. 1 (1967)

"Fruit indistinguishable from Eureka, but seasonal distribution of crop more like Lisbon, mainly in winter.

Tree similar to Lisbon, but more open and less upright in growth habit, less thorny, and not as densely foliated.

These characterizations are adapted from Webber (1943), since the original clone has been little propagated commercially in California, or elsewhere so far as can be ascertained, for many of decades.  Indeed, Villafranca is currently of so little importance as scarcely to warrant inclusion here.  The only reason for including it lies in the fact that certain clones with characteristics intermediate between Eureka and Lisbon have been propagated as selections of those varieties.  Almost certainly several of those currently of importance in California—notably the so-called Galligan Lisbon and Corona Foothill Eureka selections—are in reality Villafranca selections.  This may conceivably be true also of the popular so-called Rosenberger Lisbon and Ross Eureka selections.

Said to be of Sicilian origin, the Villafranca variety was introduced into Florida by H. S. Sanford about 1875 and brought to California not long thereafter."

Availability

Not commercially available in California.

USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network page for Villafranca lemon CRC 280