the.com/navel orange
A seedless mutant clone descended from one freak tree, propagated by grafting for two centuries.
means A seedless variety of sweet orange recognizable by the small secondary fruit at its blossom end, which forms a navel-like dimple in the rind.
from The name is plain description: the fruit's puckered bottom looks like a human navel, from Latin 'umbilicus.' The variety itself traces to a single mutated tree discovered in early-19th-century Brazil, on a monastery's grounds near Bahia. Because the mutation made the fruit seedless, it couldn't reproduce by seed at all — every navel orange since has been propagated by grafting cuttings onto rootstock, making the worldwide crop essentially one tree endlessly cloned. The famous American line grew from a few such cuttings sent to a grower in Riverside, California, in the 1870s.
- twin inside
- That belly button is a stunted conjoined second fruit
- clone army
- Every navel orange traces to one Brazilian mutation
- sterile star
- No seeds means no sex, only grafting
- year 1820
- The original mutant sport appeared on a monastery tree
- bitter clock
- Limonene makes leftover juice turn nasty within minutes
washington navel orange — originated in brazil, introduced to california in 1873, became the primary citrus variety in the us
jaffa navel orange — grown in israel since the 1800s, major export variety known for seedlessness and sweetness