Willowleaf mandarin × Sweet Orange
Algerian Clementine
Other names: Clementina Fina, CRC 4011, Fina, Fina Clementine, IVIA 39-3, PI 600645, VI 518
Estimated Genetic Ancestry
- 50% Sweet Orange
- 50% Mandarin
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World of CitrusWorld of CitrusWillowleaf mandarin × Sweet Orange
Other names: Clementina Fina, CRC 4011, Fina, Fina Clementine, IVIA 39-3, PI 600645, VI 518
Louis Trabut described the Clementine as a naturally occurring citrus seedling discovered in Algeria. He proposed that it arose from a cross between the Mediterranean or Willowleaf mandarin as the seed parent and the ‘Granitos’ sour orange, or bigarade, as the pollen parent. This conclusion was based on the orchard context and the fruit’s apparently intermediate characteristics rather than on a controlled pollination. The proposed Granitos parentage was never universally accepted; *The Citrus Industry, Volume 1* (1967) characterized it as highly doubtful.[1]
Modern DNA-marker work supports a Willowleaf mandarin × sweet orange origin for Clementine, with Willowleaf as the seed parent. Shimizu et al. (2016) found no marker mismatches for that cross in their representative Clementine stock; their samples were not explicitly identified as Algerian Clementine.[7]
In 1909, Louis Trabut sent Clementine budwood to Walter T. Swingle, who propagated it at Glen St. Mary, Florida.[4]
At his Algerian station, Trabut described mandarin-sized fruit, usually less flattened and sometimes pear-shaped, with a vivid red-orange peel that separates readily, very sweet flesh, a lightly musky aroma, and a November–December season. In a separate Arizona-grown sample reviewed by Seattle Figs, the fruit peeled easily with one hand and was described as juicy, sweet, pleasant, and not sour.[6][3]
Reece and Gardner reported a 327-seedling population from Clementine as female parent crossed with Orlando tangelo, from which Robinson, Osceola, and Lee were selected.[5]
Algerian Clementine is also known as Fina and Clementina Fina. UCR describes its Algerian selection as most probably identical to the Spanish Fina selection, while the Commune profile lists Algerian and Fina among its synonyms. These cultivar names do not make the separately maintained collection accessions identical.[1][9]