Kona Sweet Orange

Citrus ID places Kona in the Sweet Orange Group and lists Hawaii and Waialua as synonyms, citing Cottin (2002). Slow Food calls it Citrus sinensis cv. Valencia, and local descriptions also call Kona a Valencia type. The catalog therefore records Kona as a general selection within Valencia; the reviewed sources do not document the selection history or identify a particular Valencia clone.^{⁠[2]⁠[3]⁠[7]⁠[8]}

Glenn I. Teves reports that oranges introduced to Hawaiʻi by Vancouver in 1792 became known as Hawaiian or Kona orange, and notes variation among seed-grown plants and fruit. Bitters places Kona in the sweet-orange section, reports introduction from Hawaiʻi’s Kona district to California about 1950, and describes its California rootstock performance as mediocre. These accounts concern different movements and neither identifies the Kona donor tree used in the UFR trials.^⁠[6]⁠[1]

The Ark of Taste profile describes Kona fruit as round, tight-skinned, and with a solid core, and reports a March–June harvest in Kona districts. Big Island Video News reported Kona’s 2024 acceptance to the Ark.^⁠[3]⁠[4]