Addo, Allen, Allen-Newman #4, Blanchard, Cascade, Cook, Eureca, Eureka Frost, Frost Eureka, Gladdeskil, Jek, Loch, Meek, Palia Eureka, Palia, Richardson, Ryan, S 15, Sloop, Thornton, UCLA, Utt, Wheatley (sec. Cottin 2002)
Citrus x limon (L.) Osbeck, pro sp. (sensu Mabberley 1997, Bayer et al. 2009); Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f. [=Citrus x limon (L.) Osbeck, pro sp.] (sensu Swingle and Reece 1967)
Hodgson (1967) notes that: "The Eureka variety originated in Los Angeles, California, in a group of seedlings grown from fruit of Italian origin—the seed of which is said to have been planted in 1858. Several years later Andrew Boyle and C. R. Workman acquired some of these seedlings and eventually they selected several that appeared to be promising. About 1877, Workman provided Thomas A. Garey, a prominent Los Angeles nurseryman, with budwood from one of these seedlings and he propagated and introduced it under the name of Garey's Eureka (Butterfield 1963). Because of its precocity, thornlessness, and everbearing nature, it soon rivaled the Lisbon variety. Both have remained the principal varieties in California and have achieved the status of major lemon varieties of the world. Eureka ranks as a major variety in most important lemon-growing countries except Italy, Spain, and a few other Mediterranean areas. Russo (1955), as a result of a study of varieties in California, recently expressed the opinion that Eureka has its ancestry in the Lunario variety of Italy."
The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following notes on the cultivar (clone DPI-404-27): "Entered into program by Dr. Knorr C.E.S. in 1968 from the Coca Cola Hodgeston grove at Indian Town. Eureka originated in California. Not widely grown in Florida. Origin: California, seedlings from Italian fruit, Cook Eureka is a nucellar clonal selection."
Crown compact or dense, not weeping. First-year twig surface glabrous; second- or third-year twig surface striate; thorns straight; prickles absent or not persistent. Petiole glabrous, length short; wings absent. Leaflets one, margin crenate/crenulate or bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades flat, sun leaflet blades weakly conduplicate. Scent of crushed leaflets freshly lemon-like. Fruit as broad as long or longer than broad; rind green-yellow (6), yellow (7-10), or yellow-orange (11); rind texture slightly rough (4-5); firmness leathery; navel absent; flesh yellow; taste sour.
Hodgson (1967) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar:
"Fruit medium-small, elliptical to oblong, sometimes obovate; commonly with short neck or low collar at base; usually short but sometimes long apical mammilla or nipple; frequently surrounded with areolar furrow. Seed content variable but usually few to none. Color yellow at maturity. Rind medium-thick; surface finely pitted with sunken oil glands, slightly rugose, commonly with low longitudinal ridges; tightly adherent. Segments about 10; axis small and usually solid. Flesh color greenish-yellow; fine-grained, tender, juicy; flavor highly acid. Crop well distributed throughout year, but mainly in late winter, spring, and early summer.
Tree medium in vigor and size, spreading and open in growth habit, virtually thornless; sparsely foliated (in comparison with Lisbon and others); strongly everbearing and produces fruit at the ends of long branches; precocious; productive. Tree lacking vigor compared with most other varieties; more sensitive to cold, insect infestation, and neglect; shorter-lived.
The fruit of the Eureka variety differs in general from that of Lisbon, the principal other variety in California, in that it is more prominently ridged and has a somewhat rougher rind surface and usually a smaller and less pronounced nipple. The tree differences are much more marked. In addition to those differences...the leaves are darker in color and less sharply pointed and the margins are somewhat more crenate than the Lisbon."
The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar (clone DPI-404-27): "Description: virtually thornless, precocious, productive compared to other varieties, more sensitive to cold, less vigorous, shorter lived, incompatible with PT and hybrids, peel oil 13.13 lbs/ton (see DPI-29 file). Season: Everbearing, mainly August-December"
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.
Butterfield, H.M. 1963. A history of subtropical fruits and nuts in California. University of Californica, Division of Agricultural Sciences, Berkeley. 57 p.
Chiefland Budwood Facility. 2010. 2010 Annual report July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010. Bureau of Citrus Budwood Registration, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Winter Haven.
Cottin, R. 2002. Citrus of the World: A citrus directory. Version 2.0. France: SRA INRA-CIRAD.
Mabberley, D.J. 1997. A classification for edible Citrus (Rutaceae). Telopea 7: 167–172.
Russo, F. 1955. Lemon culture in Italy. California Citrograph 40: 255, 275–278.
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 or NCBI Nucleotide
Citrus ID Edition 2
October, 2011
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