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World of CitrusWorld of CitrusHirado Buntan Pummelo
University of California, Riverside — Citrus Variety Collection
https://citrusvariety.ucr.edu/crc4122 (opens in a new tab)
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a_Vivaldi · Tropical Fruit Forum · Cold Hardy Citrus · March 24th, 2026
https://www.tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=61056.msg578713#msg578713 (opens in a new tab)
First-hand forum account, paraphrased; not an independently verified trial.
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Citrus Genome Database
https://www.citrusgenomedb.org/Analysis/2294125 (opens in a new tab)
Genome resource reviewed against the CGD assembly record and existing variety identity. Cupi Majiayou is a sequenced Citrus maxima cultivar, distinct from Hirado Buntan Pummelo. This is a pummelo species reference for comparison; its fruit chemistry and other traits should not be assigned to this cultivar.
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The Mulberries · YouTube · 2025-07-06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfqQe4oAMiQ (opens in a new tab)
Summary from transcript: At 3:19–4:04, the presenter describes Hirado Buntan fruit and propagation.
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The Mulberries · YouTube · 2026-05-14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BPp5SNEsmU (opens in a new tab)
Summary from transcript: At 31:55–33:58, the presenter describes own-root Hirado Buntan cutting propagation and fruit preference.
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Citrus ID (IDtools) · Citrus ID Edition 2, October 2011
https://idtools.org/citrus_id/index.cfm?packageID=1179&entityID=8589 (opens in a new tab)
Citrus ID entry cites Hodgson (1967) for standard Japanese Hirado origin/introduction. The separate Chiefland Budwood Facility note concerns pink-fleshed seedling clone DPI-833-65 and must not be merged with the standard cultivar. The page references the 2009 Chiefland annual report (July 2008–June 2009), although its prose attributes the clone notes to 2010.
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Todolí Citrus Fundació
https://todolicitrusfundacio.org/en/variedades-citricos/hirado-buntan-2/ (opens in a new tab)
The page identifies Hirado Buntan as Citrus maxima, accession TCF-005, origin Japan, and availability November–April. It attributes origin to Hirado Island (Nagasaki Prefecture) in 1910; this differs in wording from the chance-seedling account attributed to Hodgson (1967) in Citrus ID, so both accounts remain attributed. Its unmeasured fruit description says large, slightly depressed at both ends, smooth thin bright-yellow rind at ripeness, carotenoid-pigmented flesh, fine but strong septa, large juice vesicles, and seeds. No author or publication date is displayed.
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themulberries · Growing Fruit Forum · August 15 (year not displayed on the page)
The author reports that their Hirado Buntan was propagated from Stan McKenzie's tree and produced very large fruit that fully ripened around December/January in a passively heated greenhouse. The account does not identify the graft/rootstock or provide measured fruit values. The preceding sentence concerns a different pummelo and is not attributed to Hirado.
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Citrus Growers Forum (ProBoards archive) · 2020–2022 (individual post dates below)
https://citrusgrowersv2.proboards.com/thread/691/hirado-buntan-pomelo (opens in a new tab)
The two user-supplied HTML captures preserve posts 4981–6670 from this thread; see raw-captures/proboards-posts.json for authors, timestamps, and quoted blocks. Laaz's posts 5340 and 5341 repeat the same report: a tree shown at the 2009 Citrus Expo was removed; Laaz says they never used its fruit. Post 5353 by Laaz later says it was sweet but dry, so the account is internally unresolved. GT's posts 6618 and 6638 describe their own Hirado fruit as juicy with tough or somewhat softer membranes and compare it with Chandler and Sarawak; these are personal comparisons, not controlled measurements. In post 6669 GT reports red, very sweet fruit tried in mid-December from a tree grown in a pot and then in ground, while post 6665 reports another grower's fruit did not turn red. The thread does not establish clone identity or explain the difference. Post 5357's supermarket red pomelo is not identified as Hirado.
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Tropical Fruit Forum · April 14–17, 2014
https://www.tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=10079.0 (opens in a new tab)
One-page forum thread with replies 0–14. HMHausman (#1, Apr. 14, 2014; signature Fort Lauderdale, Florida) reports that their Hirado withstood 28°F for a short period without leaf damage; exposure duration and measurement method are not stated. Replies distinguish the original Japanese Hirado with pale greenish-yellow pulp from a Florida pink-fleshed selection. Hardiness accounts for the pink selection in replies #7 and #11 concern that selection and different individual plants/rootstocks; they are not merged into the standard Hirado report.
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Indy Jones (@indyjones6708) · YouTube · 2022-12-04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrvwFSJB4Mc (opens in a new tab)
Summary from transcript: In captions from 0:00–0:58, the speaker identifies a potted plant as a Hirado variety, says they believe it is in a 9-gallon container, repotted once since buying it around 2020–2021, and calls this the first harvest. Captions are English; whether they are human-authored or automatic is not displayed. The final captions are garbled and do not establish a fruit count or measured fruit traits.
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The Mulberries (@themulberries) · YouTube · 2025-02-16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ8QvfUcp6Y (opens in a new tab)
Summary from transcript: At 0:08 the speaker says the cutting is believed to be Hirado Buntan from a broken branch received from Stan McKenzie. Most cuttings reportedly took six or seven months to begin forming roots; this particular cutting was entering its second year and was described as growing well on its own roots. This is a grower's account, not a propagation trial. The same donor-branch and rooting episode is also recounted in existing source #5 (video 3BPp5SNEsmU), so this later video is overlapping evidence rather than an independent propagation sample.
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C. Chen; P. Cancalon; C. Haun; F. Gmitter Jr. · American Society for Horticultural Science; Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science · 2011; 136(5):358–363; DOI 10.21273/JASHS.136.5.358
https://journals.ashs.org/view/journals/jashs/136/5/article-p358.xml (opens in a new tab)
The accessible abstract includes Hirado Buntan among the fruit samples and says bergamottin, 6,7-dihydroxybergamottin, and paradisin C were not detected or extremely low relative to Hudson and Foster. It gives no exact Hirado values or accession, collection site, harvest date, or analytical replication.
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Masayoshi Sawamura; Shigeru Kuwahara; Ken-ichi Shichiri; Toshikazu Aoki · Agricultural and Biological Chemistry; J-STAGE · 1990
https://doi.org/10.1271/bbb1961.54.803 (opens in a new tab)
The paper lists C. grandis Osbeck forma Hirado among eight pummelo samples. It reports field-grown material from the Kochi Fruit Tree Experimental Station harvested in mid-to-late December 1988; the article does not link the Hirado sample to a particular tree, accession, clone, or CRC 4122. The study analyzes cold-pressed-oil volatile constituents by gas chromatography, reporting 62 components as weight percentages of cold-pressed oil. Its narrative says cubebene was comparatively abundant in Hirado, Mato and Uchimurasaki oils. This is analytical oil-composition evidence, not sensory tasting, juice chemistry, or a fruit-quality measurement; the paper’s Hirado sample must not be equated with UCR CRC 4122 or the distinct pink-fleshed selection.
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