Lamb, Lamb's Summer, Pera Coroa, Pera Rio, Perao, Peret, Pereta (sec. Cottin 2002)
Citrus x aurantium L., pro sp. X Citrus trifoliata L. (sensu Mabberley 1997, Zhang and Mabberley 2008, in part); Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck x Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf. (sec. Cottin 2002)
Hodgson (1967) noted that:
"Moreira and Filha (1963) and other Brazilian horticulturists have expressed the opinion that the Pera variety is probably the same as Lamb Summer of Florida. If so, it originated as a seedling in Volusia County sometime prior to 1897, when it was first described and named for the owner. It never attained much importance in Florida. Several clones are recognized of this variety in Brazil, including Perão, a light-bearing tree with fruit which is large and resembles Shamouti. A. A. Salibe has called attention to the resemblance between Pera and the Berna variety of Spain.
Introduced into Brazil at an early date, Pera has long been the principal variety as well as the most important late export variety. It constitutes nearly three-fourths of the commercial acreage in the region of Rio de Janeiro and slightly more than a third of the commercial acreage in São Paulo State."
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 short or medium; wings absent, if present, narrow or medium, adjoining the blade. Leaflets one, margin bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades flat or weakly conduplicate, sun leaflet blades flat, 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 information on the cultivar:
"Fruit medium-small, ovoid to ellipsoid; seeds very few. Rind medium-thin; surface smooth and finely pitted. Color light orange at maturity. Flesh well-colored; firm, fine textured, juicy; flavor rich. Late in maturity. Holds well on tree without deterioration in quality, and stores and ships well.
Tree vigorous, upright; foliage dense, with many leaves of which the petioles are unevenly winged; very productive."
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.
Moreira, S. and A.J.R. Filha. 1963. Cultura dos citrus. Fifth edition. Edições Melhoramentos, São Paulo. 120 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
idtools.org
