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== Synonyms ==
*''Citrus nobilis'' Andrews (1810) et auct., non Lour. (1790), *''Citrus deliciosa'' Tenore (1840), *''Citrus chrysocarpa'' Lushington (1910).
== Vernacular names ==
*Mandarin (En). *Tangerine (Am). *Mandarinier (Fr)
*Indonesia: jeruk keprok, jeruk jepun, jeruk maseh
*Malaysia: limau langkat, limau kupas, limau wangkang
In agriculture and commerce, often the following classification of mandarins is used (all ''C. reticulata'' Blanco or hybrids according to Swingle):
*The common mandarins ( ''C. reticulata'' Blanco). Description: small spiny tree with slender twigs; leaves broadly to narrowly lanceolate or elliptic with acute tip and base; flowers arising singly or in small clusters in the axils of the leaves; fruit a depressed globose or subglobose berry, with thin, loose peel, easily separating from the segments, bright orange or scarlet-orange when fully ripe; seeds small, pointed at one end, with green embryo. Quite a varied group, including the cultivars: "Beauty", "Clementine", "Dancy", "Campeona", "Emperor", "Ponkan", "Mandalina", "Naartje", "Kinokuni", "Murcott". Most of these do well in the tropics but almost every tropical country also has its own preferred cultivars.
*The King mandarins (= ''C. nobilis'' Loureiro). Tangors. The Indo-China or Cambodia mandarin, or kunenbo from Japan. They are less resistant to cold than many other mandarins. Description: upright spiny or spineless tree; leaves broadly lanceolate, petioles of medium length, narrowly winged; fruit large, peel thick, seeds few to many, segments 12-14.
For mandarins and mandarin-like fruits, Swingle accepts 3 species, Tanaka 36. The 3 species distinguished by Swingle are:
*''-C. reticulata'' Blanco. The old name ''Citrus nobilis'' Loureiro became invalid when it transpired that the description was based on an interspecific hybrid, a so-called tangor, commonly known as King orange. ''C. reticulata'' Blanco var. ''austera'' Swingle is the sour mandarin or sunkat, to which the Rangpur lime (synonym: ''C. limonia'' Osbeck) probably also belongs.
*''-C. indica'' Tanaka. A wild ''Citrus'' sp. from India (Indian wild orange), perhaps of value as rootstock.
*''-C. tachibana'' (Makino) Tanaka, a wild species from Japan and Taiwan.
Swingle distinguishes 6 groups of hybrids in the commonly cultivated mandarins, of which the tangors (mandarin × sweet orange) and tangelos (mandarin × grapefruit) are the most important; the calamondins (mandarin × kumquat) are widely cultivated in South-East Asia; see the article on ×''×Citrofortunella Citrofortunella microcarpa'' (Bunge) Wijnands.
Of 5 important Indonesian cultivars "Keprok Siem" is planted most and liked best; it is rather tight-skinned. The loose-skinned cultivars "Keprok Garut" (a "Ponkan" hybrid), "Keprok Batu 55", "Keprok Madura" and "Keprok Tejakula" are named after the location where the cultivar got its fame. In Malaysia as well as Thailand a single cultivar dominates, which may be the same as "Keprok Siem" (from "Siam"?). The better Malaysian cultivars are "Limau Kupas Masakhijau" and "Limau Kupas Manek".
The common method in South-East Asia is budding, but in Malaysia and Thailand - particularly in the central delta where the water table is high - air layering is the standard method. Rough lemon has been much used as a rootstock, in Indonesia also "Japanse Citroen" (probably identical to "Rangpur lime"). A range of other rootstocks has been tested and for the rehabilitation programme in Indonesia the trifoliate "Troyer" citrange is used as rootstock.
An area of 15-25 m<sup>2</sup>per tree (e.g. 5 m × 3 m or 6 m × 4 m) suffices for most mandarins, but in South-East Asia trees are usually spaced further apart, in Indonesia and the Philippines often 5 m × 6 m or 6 m × 6 m. In the typical Thai orchards on converted paddy fields, the spacing is 8 m × 4 m, a single row of trees being planted on a raised bed flanked by ditches. The ditches play a vital role, not only because they provide drainage and because all transport is by boat, but also because the water is used to surface-irrigate the beds and to spray the crop protection chemicals. As the orchards are short-lived due to disease problems, it may be worthwhile to plant double rows on a bed, for instance spaced (5.5 + 2.5) m × 4 m, doubling the number of trees per ha to 600.
== Husbandry ==
== Literature ==
* Ashari, S., Aspinall, D. & Sedgley, M., 1989. Identification and investigation of relationships of mandarin types using isozymes analysis. Scientia Horticulturae 40: 305-315.
* Sugiyarto, M., 1989. Review of citrus cultivars in Indonesia. Proceedings of Asian Citrus rehabilitation conference. Malang, 4-14 July 1989. 8 pp.
* Tanaka, T., 1954. Species problem in Citrus. Japanese Society for the promotion of Science, Ueno, Tokyo. 152 pp.
== Authors ==
