CHAPTER VII. 



THE MANDARIN ORANGES. 



Many writers on citrus fruits have placed the man- 

 darin oranges under the species, Citrus Aurantium Linn. 

 Others have considered it a variety of that species while 

 some, believing it possesses distinctive, specific character- 

 istics, have followed Lourerio and have referred it to his 

 species Citrus nobilis. In this latter view the writer con- 

 curs, and after carefully studying the characteristics of 

 both the mandarin and sweet orange groups, believes it 

 best to place the former under a species separate from the 

 latter. 



The group as represented in America is distinct in 

 habit of growth and in fruit from C. Aurantium. The 

 leaves of the mandarin oranges are generally quite small 

 and pointed, while the skin is easily separated from the 

 pulp of the fruit and the sections of the pulp from one 

 another. One noteworthy point, and one which needs to 

 be explained away by those who desire to throw the two 

 groups together, is that the cotyledons of the seeds of the 

 mandarin oranges are pistache green or greenish in color, 

 while those of the sweet oranges are white. Of course it 

 must be granted that one species may shade off into the 

 other, but where such is the case any variety in question 

 should be relegated to the group of which it possesses the 

 greatest number of marked characteristics. 



The reasons for adopting the group-name Mandarin 

 are, that it has been longer in use and is probably more 

 widely known than any other. Many have referred to the 

 Tangierines as a group, or sub-group, distinct and separate 



