Djeroek Djepoen, Jeneru-tenga, King of Siam, Putuni, Rode King, Som Khing (sec. Cottin 2002)
Citrus reticulata Blanco (sensu Swingle and Reece 1967); Citrus nobilis Lour. (sensu Tanaka sec. Cottin 2002; sec. NPGS/GRIN 2010)
Hodgson (1967) noted that: "According to Webber (1943), this variety originated as a seedling from fruits of that name received by H. S. Magee of Riverside, California, in 1880 through the courtesy of the United States Minister to Japan, John A. Bingham, who arranged to have them sent from Saigon, Cochin-China (South Vietnam). It is stated that Magee, who was a nurseryman, sent both seedlings and budwood to J. C. Stovin of Winter Park, Florida, in 1882."
The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following notes on the cultivar (clone 18-1): "King Orange (mandarin) seedling selection from Ft Pierce entered by Norman Platts in 1958. Originated in South Vietnam, also called King of Siam, introduced to FL by John Storine of Winter Park."
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 or medium; wings narrow or medium, adjoining the blade. Leaflets one, margin crenate/crenulate; shade leaflet blades flat or weakly conduplicate, sun leaflet blades weakly or strongly conduplicate. Scent of crushed leaflets mandarin-like. Fruit broader than long; rind yellow (7-10), yellow-orange (11), orange (12), or red-orange (13); rind texture medium rough (6-7) or rough (8); firmness leathery; navel absent; flesh orange; taste acidic-sweet.
Hodgson (1967) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar:
"Fruit large (among the largest of the mandarins), oblate to depressed globose; base sometimes short-necked but usually depressed and furrowed; apex flattened or depressed; areole moderately distinct. Rind thick (very thick for mandarins), moderately adherent but peelable; surface moderately smooth to rough and warty. Deep yellowish-orange to orange at maturity. Segments 12 to 14, readily separable; axis large and hollow. Flesh color deep orange; tender; moderately juicy; flavor rich. Seeds few to many and cotyledons cream-colored. Late to very late in maturity and stores well on tree.
Tree moderately vigorous, upright and open in growth habit, and medium in size, with comparatively few thick, stiff and erect, thornless to moderately thorny branches. Foliage open and consists of large, dark-green, broadly-lanceolate leaves, the petioles of which are medium in length and narrowly wing-margined and the venation inconspicuous in comparison with most other mandarins. Very, productive but markedly subject to loss from tree breakage and fruit sunburn. Tree cold-resistant but less so than most mandarins."
The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar (clone 18-1): "Description: Large fruit, thick rind, rough and warty, moderate seeds. Problems: Limb breakage, sunburn, less cold resistant. Season: Late"
Hodgson (1967) additionally noted that:
"Climatically, the most distinctive feature of this variety is its very high heat requirement for the attainment of horticultural maturity and good quality, for which reason it is the latest ripening of the mandarins. The fruit also is markedly affected by environmental influences, including both rootstock and soil. Thus, when grown in Florida on sour orange rootstock in the heavier-textured soils, the size is large, rind surface relatively smooth, and the flavor excellent—rich and sprightly. On rough lemon rootstock in light-textured soils, the rind surface is rough and warty and the flavor much less pronounced. As a consequence, for satisfactory quality its range of commercial adaptation is quite restricted. In California, it attains acceptable flavor only in the hottest interior districts and is undesirably rough in rind surface and unattractive in appearance.
At one time King had considerable importance in Florida, but it is now grown very little commercially. It is still used in the gift-package trade, however, and for home planting. It has never achieved importance in California.
Of horticultural interest in connection with this variety is the fact that several of its hybrids are currently of commercial interest in California and elsewhere, among which are Encore, Honey (not the Murcott of Florida), Kinnow, and Wilking, all of King X Willowleaf parentage, and Kara of Owari satsuma X King parentage (Frost, 1935).
Several observers have reported similarities between the fruits of King and Campeona, a variety of growing importance in Argentina. These similarities include size, form, roughness and thickness of rind, white cotyledons, and lateness of maturity."
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.
Frost, H.B. 1935. Four new citrus varieties—the Kara, Kinnow and Wilking mandarins and the Trovita orange. California Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 597:14 pp.
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.
Webber, H.J. and L.D. Batchelor (eds.). 1943. The Citrus industry. Vol. I. History, botany, and breeding. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1028 pp.
Search for this cultivar in NCBI Entrez or NCBI Nucleotide
Additional information on this cultivar at University of California: Riverside Citrus Variety Collection
Citrus ID Edition 2
October, 2011
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