Murcott Mandarin: History | World of Citrus

Other

The oldest known budded tree in the commercial Murcott lineage was growing by about 1922 on property formerly owned by nurseryman Charles Murcott Smith at Bayview, Clearwater, Florida. Smith is believed to have obtained the budwood from his neighbor R. D. Hoyt of Safety Harbor. Hoyt had cooperated with the USDA citrus breeding program and is believed to have received the unidentified parent hybrid from the USDA nursery at Little River, Miami, before 1916. The exact parents and original hybrid record are unknown.

Charles Murcott SmithOther

Propagated and maintained the oldest known budded tree from which the commercial Murcott lineage largely descends.

R. D. HoytOther

Believed to have supplied the budwood propagated by Charles Murcott Smith.

Sources: ⁠[1]

Introduced

Indian Rocks Nursery began small-scale commercial propagation of the variety in 1928 under the name Honey Murcott.

Indian Rocks NurseryOther

The reproduced 1967 account says Indian Rocks Nursery undertook small-scale commercial propagation in 1928 under the name Honey Murcott. It does not identify the nursery as the variety’s introducer.

Sources: ⁠[1]

Other

The 1967 historical account credits J. Ward Smith’s 1944 planting near Brooksville with bringing Murcott to prominence. It tentatively identifies this as the first commercial planting and reports that he marketed the fruit as Smith tangerine, apparently unaware that the Murcott name was already in use.

J. Ward SmithOther

Established the 1944 commercial planting that helped bring Murcott into prominence.

Sources: ⁠[1]

Other

The Riverside citrus collection received Murcott as budwood from the USDA Date and Citrus Station at Indio, California, via the Citrus Clonal Protection Program in 1961. The accession became CRC 3846 / PI 539521.

USDA Date and Citrus StationOther

Source of Murcott budwood received by Riverside in 1961.

UC Riverside Citrus Experiment StationCollector

UCR records CRC 3846 as received as Murcott budwood from the USDA Date and Citrus Station at Indio through CCPP in 1961. This note describes the accession receipt; it does not assert later maintenance.

Sources: ⁠[1]