Cleopatra mandarin - Citrus reshni hort. ex Tanaka

Parentage/origins: Open pollinated seedling.

Rootstocks of accession: Carrizo citrange, C-35 citrange

Season of ripeness at Riverside: Year-round

Citrus reshni Hort. ex Tan. —This species is the chota or billi kichili of India and the Cleopatra mandarin of the United States.  The tree is attractive, round-topped, symmetrical, and thornless, with small, dark-green leaves.

The fruit is orange-red, small, oblate, and highly depressed at the apex, with thin, somewhat rough rind.  The flesh texture is soft and juicy and the flavor is somewhat acid.  Seeds are small, polyembryonic, and have green cotyledons.

Considered to be native to India and said to have been introduced into Florida from Jamaica sometime prior to 1888, C. reshni is increasingly important as a rootstock in the United States and elsewhere.  It is an attractive ornamental and bears fruit the year round."

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

Scientific classification

Kingdom:        Plantae

(unranked):     Angiosperms

(unranked):     Eudicots

(unranked):     Rosids

Order: Sapindales

Family:            Rutaceae

Genus: Citrus

Species:           C. reshni

Binomial name           Citrus reshni

Citrus reshni also known as Cleopatra mandarin is a citrus tree that is commonly used in agriculture as a rootstock of different cultivated species of citrus, mostly orange, grapefruit, tangerine and lemon. It originated in India and later was introduced to Florida from Jamaica in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Cleopatra mandarin fruit belong to the "acidic" group of mandarins, which are too sour to be edible. When they are grown it is for the rootstock or for juice production.

The rootstock can handle multiple soil conditions including tolerance to the presence of limestone, salinity and soil alkalinity along with being suitable for shallow soils.

It is resistant to citrus tristeza virus and exocortis but is sensitive to root asphyxia and Phytophthora. One of the down sides to using the rootstock is it grows slow in the early years. In the right conditions it can induce high productivity and excellent fruit quality, although these are usually somewhat smaller than with others.