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Tangelo (from tangerine and pummelo; by syncopation: tange[rine] [pumme]lo). A new group of citrous fruits originated in 1897 by the writer by crossing the Dancy tangerine with the Bowen grapefruit. The resulting hybrid, named Sampson tangelo by H. J. Webber and the writer (United States Department of Agriculture Yearbook, 1904) does not closely resemble either parent in its fruit characters, being a slightly pear-shaped thin-skinned smooth and shining fruit of medium to large size, pale orange in color, and with a rather acid sprightly flavored very soft and juicy orange-colored pulp. It ripens very late, several months after it begins to color, and sometimes becomes partly dry before complete maturity. When properly grown it is a delicious fruit. It is being grown commercially on a small scale, but its delicate skin and liability to dry out before fully ripe probably will preclude its culture except by experts for a special market.
The Thornton is another tangelo, a hybrid of tangerine with a Florida grapefruit. It is a rough thick-skinned round fruit with very pale orange-colored juice and sprightly flavored pulp. It ripens earlier than the Sampson tangelo and is less acid. It is very like a tender good-flavored orange in character. It is beginning to be grown commercially on a small scale.
The success of the first two tangelos produced by artificial hybridization has led to the creation of hundreds of additional hybrids between all the mandarin types of orange (Citrus nobilis) such as the tangerine, willow-leaf mandarin, King, Satsuma, and the like, and the better sorts of grapefruit and pummelo (Citrus grandis). These fruits in general resemble round oranges (Citrus sinensis) more than either of their parents and are exceedingly variable, sister fruits from seeds of a single cross-pollinated fruit often being very unlike. Among the tangelos there are some of much promise because of their superior flavor and juiciness.
The spread of citrus canker (a bacterial disease caused by Pseudomonas citri) to many of the hot moist orange-growing regions of the world makes it desirable to breed new types of tangelos by hybridizing the canker-resistant mandarin oranges with canker-resistant pummelos such as can be found in the Orient. Such tangelos, if canker-resistant, could perhaps be grown in place of the more susceptible round oranges, just as limequats can be grown in place of the common lime, which is very susceptible to canker.
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