History

Cross Made

USDA Circular 181 places fruit identified as C.P.B. 1282 at several Florida stations in Walter T. Swingle’s 1899 hybrid series. The original hybrid records were lost; grapefruit was the known seed parent, while the pollen parent was not definitely known. The authors infer tangerine character from sister hybrids, not a specific pollen parent.

• Walter T. SwingleBreeder

  USDA Circular 181 places Thornton's C.P.B. 1282 fruit in Swingle's 1899 hybrid series. The original hybrid records were lost, and the pollen parent was not definitely known.

Sources: ⁠[5]

Named

The USDA hybrid was named Thornton in 1904.

Sources: ⁠[6]

Released

Thornton tangelo was released in 1904. It subsequently remained primarily a specialty citrus rather than becoming an important commercial cultivar.

Sources: ⁠[6]

Other

UCR records that the Riverside collection received Thornton tangelo budwood from Date Gardens at Indio, California, in 1930; the accession is CRC 2013 / PI 539697.

• Date GardensOther

  Source of Thornton budwood received by Riverside in 1930.

• UC Riverside Citrus Experiment StationCollector

  Received and maintained Thornton as CRC 2013.

Sources: ⁠[1]