Dalmau, Smith's Early, Washington Précoce (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:
"Gonzalez-Sicilia (1963) reports that this variety was received about 1933 from the Citrus Research Center, Riverside, California, under the name Early Navel (R5, T8, CES 574). The records at the Citrus Research Center show that the variety was accessioned about 1910 under the name Smith's Early Navel and was thought to be a budsport of local origin. Under the Spanish name Navelina, presumably referring to the small tree, this variety is now available from several nurseries in Spain. It is grown in Portugal under the name of Dalmau and is under trial in a number of other Mediterranean countries. Currently, the principal center of commercial production is reported to be the Sagunto-Castellón district, north of Valencia, Spain.
Chapot reports that two clones are recognized in Morocco. That described above is called Dalmau (name of a Spanish nurseryman). Another, similar in all respects except that the color of both fruit and leaves is less intense, goes by the name Navelina."
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 absent, if present, narrow, adjoining the blade. Leaflets one, margin bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades weakly conduplicate, sun leaflet blades weakly conduplicate. Scent of crushed leaflets sweetly orange-like. Fruit as broad as long or longer than broad; rind yellow-orange (11), orange (12), or red-orange (13); rind texture slightly rough (4-5); firmness leathery; navel present; flesh orange; taste acidic-sweet.
Hodgson (1967) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar:
"Fruit medium to medium-large, spherical to obovoid; basal end commonly strongly furrowed; navel small and not prominent, but opening not closed; seedless. Color reddish-orange at maturity. Rind medium-thin and smooth (approaching Thomson). Flesh color deep; texture medium; rather juicy; flavor sweet (less sprightly than Washington). Very early in maturity (fully as early as Thomson and perhaps a little earlier).
Tree lacking in vigor, semi-dwarfed, and small (like Robertson); characteristic small dark green leaves give a distinctive appearance. Productive."
"In comparison with Washington, the fruit of the Navelina variety averages a little smaller and has a much less prominent navel, the rind is smoother and deeper colored, and maturity is much earlier. The flavor is not as rich and sprightly. The tree is notably less vigorous and smaller."
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.
Gonzales-Sicilia, E. 1963. El cultivo de los agrios. Second edition. Institute Nacional de Investigaciones Agronomicos, Madrid. 805 pp.
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.
Search for this cultivar in NCBI Entrez, NCBI Nucleotide, or NCBI Expressed Sequence Tags
Additional information on this cultivar at University of California: Riverside Citrus Variety Collection
Citrus ID Edition 2
October, 2011
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