Japanese name: ウンシュウミカン（温州蜜柑） Scientific name:Citrus unshiu
[Overview]
An evergreen shrub to small tree cultivated as a fruit tree.
It is one of the representative citrus fruits cultivated in Japan.
The branches have almost no thorns.
The alternate leaves look simple, but they are reduced compound leaves, ovate-elliptic, 10–15 cm long, with entire margins.
There are almost no winged petioles.
The flowers are white with 5 petals and usually borne singly.
Many stamens are fused up to the middle of the filaments, forming a staminal tube.
The fruit is oblate and ripens to yellow-orange; the rind is thin and peels easily.
The inside of the fruit is divided into several segments, and the many hairs growing from the segment walls become juicy and form the edible part.
Because it is parthenocarpic, it usually has no seeds.
[History]
It is said to have originated in Japan from a chance seedling more than about 500 years ago.
[Cultivation]
Propagate by grafting.
It prefers slightly warmer areas than natsumikan, but early-ripening types can be grown even near Tokyo.
It is a food plant of the swallowtail butterfly.
