Spadifora (Spatafora) citron

Citrus medica L.

CRC 3535
PI 539433

Source

Received as budwood from John Carpenter, USDA Date & Citrus Station, Indio, Ca, 1966. Open-pollinated seedling

Parentage/origins

Parents unknown

Rootstocks of accession

Yuma Ponderosa lemon

Season of ripeness at Riverside

November to January

Notes and observations

12/2/1987, EMN: Seed came from CRC #2894. A medium-large citron. Some elongate fruit but most are stubby, almost round. Yellow rind, very bumpy, deeply furrowed especially at the stem end. Very thick rind, very seedy; flesh dry, coarse, and almost tasteless; bland and slightly sweet.

12/5/2006, DK & TS: Spadifora [probably should be spelled Spatafora] citron, an Italian variety named after the Spatafora family of Sicily, and depicted in Ferrari's Hesperides (1646), where it is called a lemon-citron hybrid. Ferrari says that this variety has dry, sharp flesh, but the CVC specimen is acidless; it has a citron aftertaste. The thick, yellow rind is aromatic, but bitter. The fruit is stubby in shape; lumpy and bumpy, and very seedy.