OMG!!! Patty, that manderine you speak of, I HAVE ONE! Let me tell you when I say that it is sweet and seedless! In fact, I just gave the only 2,lol, yes 2 that I managed to grow to my mother and father. 1 each. They said they had never tasted a fruit like that before. When I first bouht it I was told they were that good, but did not believe it and still paid 39.99 for a very small tree. Now I am glad I did. This one is my special tree:-) It also seems to be a very tough one to kill. It doesn't react to being over or under watering like the others and it stays very green even without constant feed. It can also adapt to temps swings. It flowers prfusely and grows the fruits at an ease. Thanks for sharing your experience and good time with us. In fact, you were lucky they weren't selling the whole trees or you would be in the poor house. Now to reread your post and figure out what is next on my list. What a nice thing to do for your community too:-) Have a great day to all. Mike

Definitely not spam :-) I had a very nice chat with Dr. Kahn when I was at the UC Riverside Citrus Days last month. And again, when I attended the UC Riverside Extension "Citrus in the Home Garden" class (which I highly recommend) taught by Tom Shea and Dr. Tracy Kahn. Dr. Kahn is developing a private endowment for the Citrus Collection. Considering all the cuts to the UC system, there is always a concern that the Citrus Variety Collection may have a funding issue in the future. I hope our forum members will consider donating to the endowment. I am going to pledge an annual amount. I hope folks on the list who are enjoying citrus varieties that were developed by the UC Riverside folks, like the Oroblanco grapefruit hybrid, Gold Nugget mandarin, Shasta Gold mandarin, Tahoe Gold mandarin, Yosemite Gold mandarin, the Melogold grapefruit hybrid, and the new and fantastic Valentine pummelo hybrid to name a few varieties. So, do please consider pledging some money as a thank you for the work UC Riverside has done for citrus varieties, as well as protecting hundreds of precious citrus varieties in their screenhouse, to protect our citrus in the event of HLB coming to California. Please see the link I've included below that will take your directly the the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection page, and consider contributing to the endowment! Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection: Support the Collection

Okay, had a great time, got to taste a few really outstanding cultivars. Snapped a few photos that you can see here: Some of the cultivar highlights: 1. EncoreLS - Unreleased mandarin developed by University of California. Late maturing (March) and will hang extremely well on the tree well into summer. Very easy to peel. Excellent flavor, it is very rich and unique. "LS" stands for low seed, and it is a low-seeded version of Encore. Will be available soon in the CCPP budwood collection. This cultivar will be added to my collection as soon as budwood becomes available. 2. Rojo Blanco pummelo hybrid - A very delicate, pigmented pummelo hybrid that melts in your mouth, very soft, smooth vesicles, delicate membranes, and very sweet. Also a later variety, ripens from Jan to May. Available in the CCPP budwood collection. Will be going in my collection. 3. Thermal Tarocco - Similar to Bream but actually I think better tasting, sweeter. Not as pigmented, but sort of speckled. Also available as budwood in CCPP. 4. Powell Navel orange - One of the several Australian navel oranges brought to University of Calif. for evaluation. The latest of the navels, and exceptionally good. It is a licensed cultivar but it is available through CCPP, worth adding to a collection if you're looking for a very late sweet orange. 5. Ellendale Tangor (mandarin) - a natural tangor found in Australia. Rich, very juicy. Deep orange. Very nice mandarin hybrid. Taste reminds me a little bit of the Page mandarin. Monoembryonic, and is used in hybrid trials for good reason, as it has many excellent qualities. Patty S.

Thanks all--I will get a close up of the leaf later this am. Kumquat is a thought that I had -- I had a kumquat tree in the front yard many years ago when I lived out west--but these are much larger and shaped differently than any kumquat I ever saw. And I don't remember if they were as tart - these really are like biting into a lemon. That description of the Meiwa does seem to match pretty closely--even a few of the pics, although most seem to still have that oval shape. I ate the peel rather inadvertently! It was so firm to the flesh and so thin that I couldn't tear it away -- once I found that it was tasty I just went with eating it instead of destroying the fruit trying to get it off. Oh, clementines are my favorite! I did get a sack of smaller than usual and more tart ones at Aldi this past winter -- hmmm. I don't think these could have stayed on the tree much longer to get sweeter--they are really quite soft--but I really have no idea.