Marrs

Synonyms

Marrs Early, Marsh Early (sec. Cottin 2002)

Cultivar or taxon

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)

Origin

Hodgson (1967) noted that: "According to Waibel (1953), this variety was found in 1927 on the place of O. F. Marrs, Donna, Texas, where it is said to have occurred as a limb sport in a group of navel orange trees obtained from California. Although propagated to a limited extent earlier, trees were not available for commercial planting until 1940."

Description

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 medium, adjoining the blade. Leaflets one, margin bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades flat, weakly conduplicate or strongly 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:

"Fruit medium-large, round to slightly oblate; moderately seedy (depending on pollination). Well-colored under favorable conditions. Rind medium-thick, and surface smooth and finely pitted. Flesh well-colored; juicy, lacking in acid; flavor sweet. Holds well on tree with little loss in quality. Earliest in legal maturity because of low acidity, but for better juice content and quality should be left on tree somewhat later.

Tree moderately vigorous, precocious, and prolific. Marked tendency to bear fruit in clusters. Smaller than most other varieties, presumably because of early and heavy bearing."

Notes

Hodgson (1967) additionally noted that: "Because of its early and heavy bearing and good fruit size, Marrs is currently a popular early maturing variety in Texas. Its principal fault for processing is the low acidity of the juice."

References

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.

Cottin, R. 2002. Citrus of the World: A citrus directory. Version 2.0. France: SRA INRA-CIRAD.

Hodgson, R.W. 1967. Horticultural varieties of Citrus. In: Reuther, W., H.J. Webber, and L.D. Batchelor (eds.). The Citrus industry, rev. University of California Press. http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html.

Mabberley, D.J. 1997. A classification 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.

Waibel, C. 1953. Varieties and strains of Citrus originating in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Proceedings of the Rio Grande Valley Horticultural Institute 7: 18–24.

Resources

Search for this cultivar in NCBI Entrez