History

Named

Louis Trabut reported that Clementine emerged from a large mandarin seedling lot at the Misserghin agricultural orphanage and was named for Brother Clément Rodier, director of cultivation and promoter of the sowings. Trabut referred to an earlier 1902 notice; this establishes a dated naming/publication account, not an exact discovery or selection date.

• Louis TrabutSelector

  Recognized and selected the distinctive seedling from Father Clément Rodier's mandarin seedling planting and described it in 1902.

Sources: ⁠[1]⁠[6]

Introduced

In 1909, Clementine was introduced to the United States through budwood sent by Louis Trabut to Walter T. Swingle. Swingle propagated the material at Glen St. Mary, Florida.

Sources: ⁠[4]

Introduced

The 2016 chapter excerpt on ScienceDirect describes Fina/Comune clementine as probably introduced to Spain from Algeria in 1925; Good Fruit Guide likewise reports a 1925 introduction. These are historical accounts of the broadly named cultivar, not evidence that the Spanish material and UCR's Algerian accession CRC 0279 are identical. The introducer is not identified.

Sources: ⁠[10]⁠[12]

Imported

Budwood of Fina Clementine was received from Luis Navarro in Valencia, Spain, from the IVIA accession designated 39-3. It was established in the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection as CRC 4011, PI 600645, and VI 518.

• Luis NavarroOther

  Supplied budwood of the IVIA 39-3 accession from Valencia, Spain.

• Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones AgrariasCollector

  Maintained the Spanish source accession as IVIA 39-3.

• UC Riverside Citrus Research CenterCollector

  Accessioned and conserved the material as CRC 4011, PI 600645, and VI 518.

Sources: ⁠[13]

Other

The ScienceDirect chapter excerpt uses Fina/Comune for the traditional Spanish clementine; Good Fruit Guide says Fina is also called Algerian Tangerine in the United States. These sources document overlapping cultivar names, but do not identify who assigned the Spanish name or when it first came into use. They do not establish identity between individual collection accessions.

Sources: ⁠[10]⁠[12]