Why is China's citrus production rich in resources and varieties?

The genus Citrus is the most important large family of evergreen fruit trees in the Brassicaceae family. In this big family, there are three types of cultivated fruit trees, namely citrus, kumquat and citrus berry, among which, citrus has the most varieties. There are about 20 kinds of them in the world, and there are 14 kinds of them distributed in our country, accounting for about 70% of the total number of them in the world. In the genus Citrus, scientists also divided it into: Hovenia (also known as citrus berry), large-winged orange, Yichang orange, citron (including Buddha's hand, lemon, lemon, lemon, come lemon), oranges (including sweet oranges and sour oranges), pomelo, wide-skinned orange, kumquat and other eight categories. All of these species are cultivated in China, and wild orange groves with closer affinities to them have been found successively in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hunan and Sichuan in China (Table 3-1).

Table 3-1 the regional distribution of wild orange forest

Source; quoted from Zhejiang Agricultural University, edited by "Fruit Tree Cultivation"

In our country, the discovery of a series of wild orange forests, a strong answer to the so-called Japanese put forward: "China's sweet oranges are Zhang Qian mission to the Western Regions when brought back". "Pomelo origin is not China", "lemon origin in India" and other assertions. In fact, as early as Zhang Qian before the mission to the West, in China's "Xijing Shiji" in: "Chang'an on the forest Wan, there are ten orange trees," the description. As far back as 4000 years ago, in the book "Yugong", there is also "Huaihai Wei Yangzhou, the bag of orange pomelo tin tribute" record. From the past historical documents, to the present day wild orange, are fully illustrated, whether pomelo, lemon, sweet orange, or kumquat, wide-skinned tangerine, Hovenia, etc., their "hometown" are in China. 1976 September, China and Emei Mountain, Sichuan Province, found at an altitude of 1,080 meters in the township of Jingshui, "Maitou citrus", at an altitude of 1,400 meters in the township of Emei Mountain, Sichuan Province, found in the township of Emei Mountain. In September 1976, China also discovered "Mida mandarin" in Jingshui Township, Emei Mountain, Sichuan Province at an altitude of 1,080 meters, and found wild Yichang oranges in Kanko Trough at an altitude of 1,400 meters, forming a natural wild orange forest. This is also one of the oldest orange varieties in the world, which further eloquently proves that China is the origin of oranges. The discovery of rich wild orange forests and their relatives can also provide new rootstocks and cultivate new varieties for the grafting of citrus trees in China, creating extremely favorable conditions for the development of citrus production. For example, Yichang orange and Mido mandarin, with its color, aroma, taste and nutritional value comparable to lemon, is an excellent processing variety of refreshing beverages. At the same time, also has a cold, strong resistance and other characteristics, urgently need to be developed and utilized for the socialist modernization of our country to contribute to the strength of the construction.

China's rich citrus resources, not only in the performance of a wide range of species, but also in a variety of varieties. According to the national survey of citrus resources, the preliminary collection of citrus varieties of about 1,000, ranking first in the world. Among them, the five categories of kumquat, pomelo, tangerine, mandarin and orange have the highest economic value. In terms of their cultivation area and production, tangerines, mandarins and sweet oranges account for the largest proportion. In the current cultivation of tangerine, mandarin and sweet orange, varieties are also very colorful. Such as orange in the red orange, Zhu orange, ponkan, Huangyan local early orange, Nanfeng honey orange, etc.; in the citrus in the banana citrus, wenzhou mandarin, snow citrus, tung zi citrus, bingsugar citrus, etc.; in the sweet orange can be divided into orange, orange, orange, perfume orange, orange, orange, orange, orange, orange, umbilical cord orange, and so on. Among them, there are also many famous varieties which are famous in China and fragrant in the five continents. Such as thin skin and tender flesh, strong and sweet flavor, no dregs, was named by Comrade Stalin as "the king of oranges" Nanfeng honey orange in Jiangxi; crisp flesh, sweet and less acidic local Huangyan early orange in Zhejiang; taste and color of Jiangxi Xin Gan red orange; sweet and refreshing, sweet and juicy Guangdong Xinhui orange, as well as no nucleus taste of navel oranges, etc., are popular among customers at home and abroad. They are very popular among customers both at home and abroad.