Fawcett Campbell, Valencia Campbell (sec. Cottin 2002)
Citrus x aurantium L., pro sp. [Sweet Orange Group] (sensu Mabberley 1997, Bayer et al. 2009); Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck (sensu Swingle and Reece 1967; sensu Tanaka sec. Cottin 2002)
Hodgson (1967) noted that: "The parent tree came to light about 1942 in the Early Campbell orchard near Santa Ana, which was planted in 1871 (Bitters, Batchelor, and Foote 1956). Almost certainly it was a seedling, for budded trees were little used at that time, which was five years before the introduction of the Valencia variety in California. The possibility that the orchard could later have been topbudded to Valencia is remote, for trees propagated from roots of this tree some years ago have shown no differences whatever from those propagated from the top."
Crown compact or dense, not weeping. First-year twig surface glabrous; second- or third-year twig surface striate; thorns absent or not persistent; prickles absent or not persistent. Petiole glabrous, length medium; wings narrow, adjoining the blade. Leaflets one, margin bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades weakly conduplicate, sun leaflet blades weakly or strongly conduplicate.Scent of crushed leaflets sweetly orange-like. Fruit as broad as long or longer than broad; rind yellow (7-10), yellow-orange (11), orange (12), or red-orange (13); rind texture slightly rough (4-5); firmness leathery; navel absent; flesh orange; taste acidic-sweet.
Hodgson (1967) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar:
"This Californian variety is commonly and, in the opinion of the writer, erroneously called Campbell Valencia. The fruit is indistinguishable from Valencia, but the tree exhibits certain consistent, discernible differences in vigor and behavior in comparison with Valencia. In trials of the two parent clones and of nucellar clonal budlines of comparable age, the trees of Campbell have consistently been more vigorous, thornier, larger, broader-topped, and slower to come into bearing than Valencia. The fruit has also been slightly lower in juice content than Valencia in the coastal region and has exhibited a greater tendency to regreen in the interior districts (Lombard, 1663). Moreover, in a trial at Santa Paula, Campbell is reported to have shown a higher, though small, percentage of fruits that were creased or of a chimeric nature....
During recent decades Campbell has been planted considerably in California. More recently, the Campbell nucellar budline has achieved popularity. This seedling is indistinguishable from Campbell, but is more vigorous, thornier, and considered to be of nucellar origin. It was derived some time prior to 1942 by H. S. Fawcett at the Citrus Research Center, Riverside, California. It should probably be called Fawcett Campbell. "
Bayer, R.J., D.J. Mabberley, C. Morton, C.H. Miller, I.K. Sharma, B.E. Pfeil, S. Rich, R. Hitchcock, and S. Sykes. 2009. A molecular phylogeny of the orange subfamily (Rutaceae: Aurantioideae) using nine cpDNA sequences. American Journal of Botany 96: 668–685.
Bitters, W.P., L.A. Batchelor, and F.J. Foote. 1956. Valencia orange strains. California Citrograph 41: 277–279, 283–284.
Cottin, R. 2002. Citrus of the World: A citrus directory. Version 2.0. France: SRA INRA-CIRAD.
Lombard, P.B. 1963. Late harvested fruit of Valencia strains compared. California Citrograph 48: 139–140.
Mabberley, D.J. 1997. A classifcation for edible Citrus (Rutaceae). Telopea 7: 167–172.
Swingle, W.T. and P.C. Reece. 1967. The botany of Citrus and its wild relatives. In: Reuther, W., H.J. Webber, and L.D. Batchelor (eds.). The Citrus industry. Ed. 2. Vol. I. University of California, Riverside. http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter3.html.
Search for this cultivar in NCBI Entrez
Additional information on this cultivar at University of California: Riverside Citrus Variety Collection
Citrus ID Edition 2
October, 2011
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