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Cooperative Extension Service |
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Agricultural
Experiment Station |
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Dale Bumpers College
Division Home |
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| Dustin Blakey County Extension Agent - Agriculture |
Jesse Bocksnick County Extension Agent - 4-H |
[Title slide - River Valley Gardening, Trifoliate Oranges, Dustin Blakey County Extension Agent for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture]
[Dustin Blakey] This fall, hunters may bag more than a deer in the great outdoors.
Hello, This is Dustin Blakey with the Sebastian County Extension Office.
One of the many services offered by the Cooperative Extension Service is the identification of all kinds of strange organisms. In a typical week I’ll field questions about trees, bugs, mushrooms, and even an occasional lizard.
Every fall with the commencement of hunting season, I get numerous inquires about fuzzy, golf ball sized fruit.
Actually, I get 2 questions, both related:
1. What is it? and
2. Can I eat it?
[Picture of trifoliate oranges] The object in question in this case is the Trifoliate Orange, or Poncirus trifoliata for Latin lovers.
[Picture of trifoliate orange blooms] Trifoliate orange is a type of hardy citrus native to China.
[Picture of trifoliate oranges ice covered] Poncirus is hardy to 15 degrees below zero.
[Picture of trifoliate oranges on branches] Although it is type of citrus, it is not an “orange” in the common sense of the word. Each fruit is about the size of a golf ball, and while it looks very similar to an orange, it is somewhat fuzzy, and at least in Arkansas, the fruit has a rusty, yellow color.
[Picture of trifoliate orange plant] The plant can best be described as thorny and green.
[Picture of trifoliate orange plant thorns] The stems are covered with long thorns that mean business.
[Picture of trifoliate orange plant leaves] The plant gets is common and scientific name from its compound leaves. Normal citrus has a single leaf, but like poison ivy, trifoliate orange has leaves in threes.
[Picture of trifoliate oranges on the plant] While trifoliate orange is deciduous, the stems are green. It’s hard not to notice a bunch of thorny, green sticks covered with yellow balls. And that’s why people ask about this plant.
[Picture of trifoliate oranges on the plant] Commercial trifoliate orange is used as a rootstock in citrus groves.
[Picture of trifoliate orange grove] Trifoliate orange rootstock improves winter hardiness of citrus grafted onto it, and it produces a dwarf-size adult plant.
[Picture of trifoliate orange plant growing wild] In Arkansas, it is usually seen escaped into the wild near old homesteads.
[Picture of trifoliate orange leaves and green fruit] As to the second question: “is it edible?”… Well, in theory it’s digestible, but fruit is exceedingly sour and loaded with seeds.
[Picture of trifoliate orange fruit slices, seeds, and a postage stamp] It is in no way palatable! I’m told that you can make it into a marmalade if you had to, but that seems like a lot of work for a little thrill.
[Picture of green trifoliate orange fruit on the plant] Trifoliate orange is mostly a curiosity in the landscape, but it does work well as a hedge to deter trespassers, if that’s something you need.
[Dustin] For more information on trifoliate oranges, gardening, or even identifying that strange object you found on your latest trek into the woods, contact us at the Extension Office.
[Title slide - For more information contact the Cooperative Extension Service dblakey@uaex.edu]
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