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Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
…and the size makes them suitable as indoor plants. Okay, I am finally back from
Vietnam with loads of pictures. This time I was a “good boy” and did not bring back any plants. My great discovery on this trip was the Quất, a very attractive cultivar of the round kumquat family. Oh, I have noticed that showy little tree before. After all, you cannot miss it if you visit Vietnam during Tet, and I have done that twice before. But what is different this time, that I spotted this plant, which was only 15” high form soil level to top of the tip of the highest leaf and sported 15 fruit. Here are three other pics, not my own, but downloaded from the website, linked at the bottom of this post: Of course it was kept at that size by judicious pruning That sparked my curiosity and I did some i-net searches: The translation of quất ranges according to translate.google.com from kumquat to blueberry. This is what I have come up with by going with kumquat through German to French and back to German where the alternative translation to "die Kumquat" is "Zwergorange" which means in English 'dwarf orange' and that seemed to fit. That finally led me to the Latin Fortunella Japonica. But the pictures did not match. The leaves are too large and the fruit are spaced much too far apart. Finally I ended up with the cultivar Tắc, Hạnh, Quất, Rutaceae. Họ Cam Quýt Botanic name: Fortunella japonica (Thunberg) Swingle. Hereafter just “Quất” - reputedly the most hardy citrus fruit, “can withstand -10^C without suffering damage” - in Vietnam predominantly raised in (smallish) pots. - from what I can see here (confirmation is difficult, due to language problem), the fruits appear to stay on the trees for at least six weeks. Quất info: quất Tết - Těm với Google I have some seeds available, if you send me a PM with your address |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
Looks like Mandarinquat. :08:
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Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
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Not quite, Mandarinquat are oval like most quat I had been familiar with. The Fortunella Japonica are round, shaped like mandarins. In my first attempt to collect seeds I inadvertently also bought Mandarin oranges, as they look very similar. The skin of the Quất is smoother, shinier though, as I learned in due time. Their seeds are also shaped differently, and I managed to separate the mandarin seeds out from the first badge. But I set the remainder aside, although I am almost certain of their identity, and will only send them out with a caveat, if I happen to run out of the ones I am 100% sure of. |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
This is possibly the most cold hardy, edible citrus: Citsumaquat
 It has that kumquat as one of the parents along with Satsuma mandarin and Poncirus trifoliata. It has little fruits:  But lots of them.  And it survived -5F (briefly) in Oklahoma City. It got damage, but is now growing happily in Chattanooga, TN at my house. It has no trifoliate taste. It basically tastes just like a kumquat. It was breed by Don Moorehead in Oklahoma City. He has had many other citrus hybrids survive but the fruits always have had at least some trifoliate flavor until this one. |
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Fortunella japonica (Thunberg) Swingle. Tắc, Hạnh, Quất, Rutaceae. Họ Cam QuĂ˝t - a set on Flickr QUOTE They are much hardier than other citrus plants such as oranges. The 'Nagami' kumquat requires a hot summer, ranging from 25 °C to 38 °C (77 ° to 100 °F), but can withstand frost down to about −10 °C (14.0 °F) without injury. They grow in the tea hills of Hunan, China, where the climate is too cold for other citrus fruits, even the Mikan (also known as the Satsuma) orange. UNQUOTE You have to scroll down past the Vietnamese language portion, to get to the (presumably) same write-up in English |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
Species of Fortunella and some of the hybrids are definitely hardier than most Citrus species.
Many folks on this site grow oval or Nagami Kumquat (Fortunella margarita). It has a sweet tasting rind and sprite, tangy fruit. The fruit is typically eaten whole. Fruits are typically 1.25" to 1.5" long and about 0.75" wide. The rind is thick in comparison to the size of the fruit -- but it is also the main taste feature. The plants are smaller in stature than Citrus, so I grow all of mine on standard rootstock -- I see no reason for dwarfing rootstock even in a pot. The Hong Kong Kumquat (aka round kumquat or golden-bean kumquat) is Fortunella hindsii. The fruit size is about the same length or slightly smaller than F. margarita. The skin of the fruit is not as sweet as F. margarita, and the fruit is also less flavorful -- although not unpleasant. There are other interesting Fortunella species to discuss later, but for now I thought it worth mentioning these hybrids: Calamondin (aka Calamansi in the Philippines) is a natural and also human-replicated hybrid of Hong Kong Kumquat x Mandarin. The fruit size is about the same as Hong Kong Kumquat. The rind is thinner than most Fortunella and a little bit less sweet. The fruit is quite sour. It is a popular ingredient in foods of the eastern hemisphere. Mandarinquat is a hybrid of Nagami Kumquat and Mandarin. The fruits are round and larger than Nagami, about 1.5" to 1.75" in diameter. The rind is no thicker than Nagami but proportionally thinner because the fruit is larger. The rind is semi-sweet and the fruit flavor is tangy tangerine. Looking at Olafhenny's picture of the plant in the room with the New York - London - Tokyo clocks, the fruit size appears to be larger than Fortunella species and the rind is a bit uncharacteristic as well. So perhaps it is Nagami or Meiwa Kumquat x Mandarin -- or another Fortunella unknown to western culture for all to enjoy. |
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actually is. They are really just the size of small mandarins. Keep in mind, that the whole plant is only 15 inches high from soil level to the top of the highest leaf. Quote:
height to a pot of mums. It is also an important part of East Asian culture for ornamental plants. See the pictures in my original post, for quất in particular and, more generally, for many of plants for which I will still post pictures in other threads in the near future. |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
Poncirus trifoliata is often called Citrus trifoliata and is either a true citrus or a relative close enough to hybridize and to use as a root stock with true citrus. It is rated at zone 5 but the fruit is horrible tasting with bitter, pine-like oils. The Citsumaquat hybrid has taken brief exposure to -5F (-20.6C not -5C) and had also survived the previous very cold winter with little damage.
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The "Citrus Family" defined by the Linnean phenotype taxonomic system is "Rutaceae", which includes at least 177 unique Genera of plants (excluding synonyms) -- each of which often contains many species. Poncirus is one of those genera. The "Citrus Subtribe" defined by the modern genotype taxonomic system is "Citrinae", which includes 32 unique Genera (excluding synonyms). It is narrower in focus than the Linnean Rutaceae family. The species of each of these genera are what most people -- including plant biologists think of as "Citrus". Poncirus is one of the included genera. The "Citrus Genus" is defined in both the phenotype and genotype systems as "Citrus". The species of the Citrus genus include Citron (Citrus medica), Mandarin (Citrus reticulata), Pomelo (Citrus maxima) and their numerous natural hybrid species -- including oranges, grapefruit, etc. |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
Richard, you have finally forced me to admit, that the quat are even larger than the largest
cherries I have ever eaten. Tony, to the first article you have linked, the number of seeds in the Quất is very varied. I have encountered fruit with a seed or two in every segment, but more often the whole fruit without any seed at all. I would say they averaged about 3 to 4 seeds/fruit. To your second article, the sweetness of the Quất rivals that of the sweetness of any citrus fruit, I have ever sampled. I do have to add the caveat, though, that I only started eating them late in the fruiting season, when they were fully ripened. |
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Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
Look, Richard, this is what it is: Botanic name: Fortunella japonica (Thunberg) Swingle.
It is small both in tree size and in fruit size, and it is as sweet and as flavourful as any citrus fruit, I have ever tasted. But that is not its main attraction for me. It is the beauty of the tree in full fruit as well as the fact, that it can fit into any apartment, even a small one and the fruit appears to last at least six weeks in full orange display. |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
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Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
I've seen Poncirus trifoliata listed as Citrus trifoliata and from what I've seen, it seems to go back and forth every few years.
Trifoliate orange - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
Since this is my very first foray into growing any citrus, I have no clue how many years it
takes the average citrus from seed to fruit. I am trying to space out my seeds, so I have a couple of them for each year until I can harvest my own, and I would appreciate any estimate from experienced growers. I have taken this picture in the garden of the Museum of Ethnicity in Hanoi. This fellow is obviously setting on bloom for the first time, since he has no fruit in evidence. Those spoil sports at the museum would not let me cut it down, so I could determine its age by counting the year rings :) This is a blow up of a section of the above photo, to show the ID tag. |
Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
The key is developing a root mass capable of nurturing fruits through to maturity. Also, the above ground structure needs to be robust enough to physically support the fruit. In breeding programs for small citrus, the typical cycle time is 7 years which includes the fruit maturation period (bud set to ripe fruit). Under ideal conditions you can grow Fortunella species from seed and harvest a dozen fruits in just under 5 years.
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Re: Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus…
I've heard that Poncirus trifoliata can form fruits in 4 years from seed and that some Grapefruits can take 12 years to fruit. I have some Poncirus trifoliata 'Flying Dragon' that did not fruit (or bloom) after maybe 6 years. I dug them up and then decided not to replant them so who knows when they would have formed fruit.
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