Bergamot Sour Orange Hybrid Budwood

Citrus aurantium ssp. bergamia.

The tree is moderately vigorous, upright to spreading in habit, virtually thornless, and with new shoot growth not pink- or purple-tinted.  At full maturity it is medium-small to medium in size.  The leaves are large and somewhat like the lemon in color, form, and emargination, although the blades are sharper-pointed and the petioles are longer and more broadly winged.

The flower buds and flowers are medium-large and pure white and there is but one bloom.  The lemon-yellow-colored fruits are small to medium-large, oblate, round obovate or broadly pyriform, frequently possess a small navel, and usually have a persistent style.  The rind is medium-thin with a smooth to moderately rough surface, commonly ridged, and adherent.  The segments are numerous and the core solid.  The flesh is moderately firm, pale greenish-yellow, and highly acid with a faint bitter aftertaste.  The highly monoembryonic seeds, comparatively few and sometimes none, often are not well developed.  The cotyledons are white or faintly green.

A distinctive characteristic of both foliage and fruits is the strongly pungent and agreeably aromatic oil, which is similar to that of the sour orange leaf, though the rind oil of the latter is different.

Rootstocks of accession:  Yuma Ponderosa lemon.

Season of ripeness at Riverside, California:  The season of maturity is late winter.

Prepared by the Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection at The University of California Riverside.