Sinton Citrangequat

Sinton is reported as a Nagami Kumquat × Rusk Citrange hybrid. UCR’s accession record appends “Open pollinated seedling” without explaining the qualifier. The listed 50% Kumquat, 25% Sweet Orange, and 25% Poncirus trifoliata ancestry is a pedigree estimate, not a genetic measurement.^⁠[1]

Hodgson’s historical account says Sinton first fruited in Sinton, Texas (year not stated) and was named and described in 1923. UCR’s accession record says budwood was received from Dr. Joe Furr in Indio in 1968; that receipt date is not a cultivar-origin date.^⁠[1]

Descriptions differ by source and sample. Hodgson describes small, round-to-oval, often-necked fruit, deep reddish orange and nearly seedless; Citrus ID describes fruit as broad as long or longer than broad, with a leathery rind. The Mulberries’ current website scorecard describes a 30 g fruit that was moderately seedy, peelable and moderately juicy, with sweetness 6.5/10, sourness 7/10 and bitterness 4/10 on the catalog’s increasing-intensity scale; sourness and bitterness were converted from the publisher’s reversed scales. Its matched video is the same tasting. That video describes the green-stage fruit as more lime-like and the orange-stage fruit as preferable for eating whole. A separate winter-stored sample was described as dried out and a poor example.^{⁠[1]⁠[7]⁠[8]⁠[9]⁠[10]}

Plant and season reports are context-specific: UCR lists Cleopatra rootstock and January–April ripening at Riverside; a linked nursery listing advertises a 15 ft mature height and Fall/Winter season. A Savannah field-trial abstract reports that Sinton survived freezing, with some defoliation and stem dieback among the listed hybrids. A separate Virginia Beach report lists Sinton alive after a severe winter, but the tree’s actual temperature is unknown. Growers describe ornamental use and fruit for beverages or marmalade. No report establishes a Sinton hardiness threshold; the nursery’s 10°F figure is an estimate, not a measured limit.^{⁠[1]⁠[2]⁠[5]⁠[3]⁠[4]⁠[11]⁠[8]}