Citrus sinensis , Valencia orange

cellular organisms - Eukaryota - Viridiplantae - Streptophyta - Streptophytina - Embryophyta - Tracheophyta - Euphyllophyta - Spermatophyta - Magnoliophyta - eudicotyledons - core eudicotyledons - rosids - eurosids II - Sapindales - Rutaceae - Citrus - Citrus sinensis

Brief facts

• Citrus sinensis is a compact tree, growing to about 10 m tall, with thorny shoots and evergreen leaves.
• Oranges originated in southeast Asia - India, Pakistan, Vietnam or China.
• Navel orange resulted from a single mutation which occured in 1820. The mutation causes a formation of the smaller, undeveloped "twin" fruit embedded in the outer fruit opposite the stem.

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Developmental stages, life cycle

Life Cycle Stages

• Seed stage MeSH
  • Dormant seed
  • Germinating seed MeSH
• Seedling MeSH Young tree up to 2 years old and/or up to 1 m tall
• Sapling Citrus species show a relatively long juvenility period (2 to 5 years) before trees reach maturity and are able to flower.
• Mature
  • Flowering It has been reported that sweet oranges may develop ~250,000 flowers per tree in a bloom season, although only small amount of these flowers (usually less than 1%) becomes mature fruit.
  • Fruit set This period lasts approx. 2 months between anthesis and fruit drop (usually in June). This period is characterized by cell division and slow growth.
  • Ripening growth Fruit experiences a huge increase in size by cell enlargement and water accumulation during 4 to 6 months.
    • Green fruit
      • Mature green fruit
    • Breaker stage Growth is mostly arrested and fruits undergo a non-climacteric process.
    • Ripe

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References

Websites

• Orange Citrus sinensis
• Wikipedia: Citrus sinensis (orange)

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