The Orange. 185 



Foremost among the remarkable varieties of the orange 

 occasionally met with in the markets, are the Tangerine 

 and the Maltese Blood-orange. Of the former there are 

 two sub-varieties : the " large," about half the size of an 

 ordinary Valentia orange; and the "small," an elegant 

 little fruit, scarcely exceeding the dimensions of a walnut. 

 The pulp in both is very agreeable; the rind is sweet 

 and perfumed. The Maltese Blood or Red orange has 

 the pulp irregularly mottled with crimson. Uninformed 

 people believe it to have originated through grafting an 

 orange upon a pomegranate. Were the story true were 

 it possible the Maltese would graft all their oranges 

 upon pomegranates, since these blood-stained fruits fetch 

 a higher price than the plain yellow. In the flavour of 

 the juice there is a trace of bitterness. The celebrated 

 Clove or Mandarin orange of China seems to have sprung 

 from the Bitter. This one is so flattened as to be much 

 broader than long ; in colour it is almost red ; in flavour 

 it is rich and sweet ; the rind is so loosely attached that 

 it separates spontaneously. A picture of the Mandarin, 

 under the name of Citrus nobilis, is given in that fine old 

 gallery]of rare-plant portraits, Andrews' Botanists' Reposi- 

 tory, pi. 608. A variety of the Bitter, called " myrtifolia," 

 resembles the Tangerine in respect of its diminutive fruit, 

 but the taste is displeasing. Greenhouses often retain it 

 as a curiosity. It is figured in Edwards' Botanical 

 Register for 1819, vol. iv., pi. 346. 



The Bergamot orange, a result probably of cultivation, 

 but of unknown history, is distinguished from the Bitter 



2B 



