Citrus reticulata (Bekele-Tesemma, 2007)

Citrus reticulata Rutaceae S.E. Asia, Cochin China, Vietnam

• English: Mandarin, Tangerine
• Amargna: Menderin

Presently mandarines are widely cultivated in all tropical and subtropical regions.In Ethiopia, it grows under rain-fed conditions in Moist and Wet Kolla and Weyna Dega agroclimatic zones. If irrigated, it grows even in Dry Kolla and Weyna Dega agroclimatic zone, 1,100–2,300 m.

Food (fruit).

A small evergreen tree 2–8 m, sometimes spiny.

• LEAVES: Shiny dark green above, yellow-green below, narrowly oval to 8 cm long, the edge usually with widely spaced rounded teeth, the stalk very narrowly winged.
• FLOWERS: In leaf axils, about 2 cm across, 5 white petals.
• FRUIT: Typically bright orange when ripe but others staying green in Ethiopia. Fruit are rounded but flattened to 8 cm diameter. The peel is thin and loose. Inside the orange juicy pulp around the seeds is very sweet.

Raise a rootstock of rough lemon and bud or graft good-variety mandarine on the rootstock. Alternatively, try air-layering. Seedlings are not recommended unless budded or grafted since they are normally not true to type.

• Treatment: Normally not used.

Observe good hygiene in order to minimize incidense of plant diseases. Management of mandarin trees vary from area to area. Usually little pruning is carried out. The crop can be heavy and slender branches may require support.

This fruit has always been cultivated in China and Japan. In Ethiopia, it produces good quality fruits in plantations between 1,100 and 2,300 m. (Experts do not agree on the difference between this species and the Mediterranean mandarins, C. deliciosa) This species is the hardiest of the cultivated citrus. There are many cultivars.