Nippon Orangequat

Nippon Orangequat is reported as a Satsuma mandarin × Meiwa kumquat hybrid. Its 50% Mandarin and 50% Kumquat ancestry is a pedigree estimate rather than a DNA measurement.^⁠[1]⁠[2]

Todolí describes oval or obovate fruit with a basal neck, possible apical bump, intense-orange relatively thick rind, medium spongy albedo and juicy pulp divided into seven segments. Rind thickness reports conflict: UCR's 1989 accession note says thin rind, while the historical Hodgson description quoted by IDTools says thick, spongy rind. These remain source-specific observations.^{⁠[3]⁠[1]⁠[2]}

Eating reports vary by sample. The Mulberries’ current scorecard describes a 90 g fruit that is moderately seedy, difficult to peel and very juicy, with kumquat-and-orange flavor. On this catalog’s increasing-intensity scale its scores are sweetness 4.5/10, sourness 8/10 and bitterness 0/10; the source’s sourness and bitterness scales run in the opposite direction. The scorecard and its matched video represent one tasting. Weird Fruit Explorer’s separate half-fruit sample received sweetness 5/10 and sourness about 8/10. Reported uses include juice, marmalade, jam and candied peel.^{⁠[8]⁠[9]⁠[12]⁠[3]}

UCR records Nippon budwood received from Ted Frolich at the UCLA Variety Collection in 1960. A historical account quoted by IDTools says Nippon was described in 1931 and introduced in 1932, and reports an earlier Washington, D.C. cross without giving its year; the cited accounts do not resolve how that history connects to UCR's CRC 3360 accession. Todolí says fruit ripens early and holds on the tree. One Growing Fruit poster reports receiving a McKenzie Farms tree a month or two before it bloomed after care.^{⁠[1]⁠[2]⁠[3]⁠[4]}