Gerald L. Klingaman
Family
Rutaceae
Botanical Name
CITRUS reticulata 'Encore'( Mandarin Group)
Plant Common Name
Encore Mandarin, Mandarin
General Description
Easy to peel and eat, tangerines delight children and adults alike. These small to medium-sized evergreen fruit trees have been grown for centuries and are highly prized by cultures across the world. Originating from southeastern Asia and the Philippines, they were eventually moved along Asian trade routes through to the Mediterranean and Europe. Between 1840 and 1850, plants were first brought to the United States via New Orleans and later shipped to Florida and California where many commercial groves exist today. Tangerines are also produced in large numbers in Mexico and shipped worldwide.
Tangerine trees have spreading, open crowns covered with glossy, elliptical, fragrant leaves with slightly winged stems and minute teeth along the edges. Flowers appear from very late winter to spring and may be single or clustered. In bud they are red or purple-hued and open to reveal white fragrant blooms that are highly attractive to honeybees, which produce honey.
The cultivar ‘Encore’ produces fragrant, medium-sized, round fruit strongly flattened at the ends with yellow-orange thin skin and deep orange, juicy flesh with a rich, sweet flavor and many seeds. The fruit ripens very late in the season and keeps well on the tree. Medium-sized trees are productive, almost thornless and alternate bearing, which means they produce a heavy crop one year and a lighter crop the next. Encore was selected and introduced in 1965 by the University of California Citrus Research Center, Riverside.
Cold sensitive, but more tolerant than other citrus, tangerines prefer locations with warm, dry winters, and cool summers. They require full sun and are tolerant of most soils, even poor soils, with ample drainage. Though moderately drought tolerant once established, they must have regular applications of water for good fruit production. Regular fertilization is also required as they are heavy feeders. Mandarin tangerine trees are smaller that other citrus, but still need plenty of space for their spreading crowns to grow. They are grafted on to rootstocks, which impart tolerances to soils, pests and climate conditions.
Encore trees make good tub or conservatory specimens where not hardy and attract the North America giant swallowtail butterfly which uses this and other citrus as larval food.
