Smith Red "Valencia" orange

Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck

CRC 4093

VI 647

Photos by Toni Siebert (left and right) & David Karp (center), CVC,  4/11/2008. Photo rights. Carrizo center 5 year old tree, unknown right, 20 year old tree.

Photos by David Karp. Photo rights.

Source: Received as seed from homeowner (Smith) of Moorpark, Ventura County, California, 1988.

Parentage/origins: Supposedly from a mutated branch on Valencia tree.

Rootstocks of accession: Carrizo citrange, C-35 citrange

Season of ripeness at Riverside: January to April

Notes and observations:

9/30/1988, MR: A single seed from a deep red colored fruit collected from one of two Valencia trees in Ventura County by homeowner. Fruit somehwat overmature. Looks like a blood orange, including an indentation at stylar end. This was the only fruit found so far. Nick Sakovich will check for more. Seed heat treated and 8-HQ. Homeowner is___ Smith. Trees to field were A,B,C. Maybe three seedlings from one seed." Homeowner believed neighbor was poisoning her tree and contacted the local Farm advisor. The tree is a vigorous grower and carries good crops of fruit. The fruit is of good size and flavor and is very low-seeded. As noted above, the rind frequently carries a heavy red blush and the flesh is heavily pigmented with anthocyanin. The fruit shape is somewhat variable, globose to avoid, with a depressed base, possibly due to juvenility of subject trees. Although the fruit is mature in late winter, it holds well into late spring, well past the season for conventional blood oranges.

Availability: Commercially available in California through the Citrus Clonal Protection Program.

USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network page for Smith Red

CVC fruit quality data for Smith Red