The UCR Citrus Variety Collection (CVC) is one of the most important collections of

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

diversity in the world. It is used for

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

plant breeding Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It is used to improve the quality of plant products for use by humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce crop varie ...

, and educational extension activities on the

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in ...

campus in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

Holdings

The collection is composed of over 1000 accessions, planted as two trees of each of various

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

s of citrus and citrus relatives. The collection largely comprises accessions within the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Citrus'', the remaining types are included among 28 other related

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

in the

Rutaceae The Rutaceae () is a family (biology), family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in Bo ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Aurantioideae Aurantioideae (sometimes known as Citroideae) is the subfamily within the rue and citrus family (biology), family (Rutaceae) that contains the citrus. The subfamily's center of diversity is in the monsoon region of eastern Australasia, extending ...

. The collection consists of approximately on the UCR campus, at the South Coast Research and Extension Center in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

, and at the Coachella Valley Agricultural Research Station in Thermal, California. It includes accessions that were first introduced in the early 20th century, as well as varieties brought in over time from various curators, and newer varieties that were more recently developed by breeding or brought in as material through the Citrus Clonal Protection Program (CCPP), a special program that evaluates the trees for the nursery and citrus industries.

History

The CVC was first established with approximately 500 species of citrus planted on by Herbert John Webber, professor of

and director of the early UC Citrus Experiment Station.

Services

The collection currently serves as a genetic resource for research and breeding. Other research being conducted in the collection ranges from subjects related to

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

, nematology,

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

plant pathology Plant pathology or phytopathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease ...

soil science Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, soil classification, classification and Soil survey, mapping; Soil physics, physical, Soil chemistry, chemical, Soil biology, biologica ...

, and

metabolomics Metabolomics is the scientific study of chemical processes involving metabolites, the small molecule substrates, intermediates, and products of cell metabolism. Specifically, metabolomics is the "systematic study of the unique chemical fingerpri ...

. In addition, the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus and Dates (NCGRCD) uses the collection for the conservation of

genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It ranges widely, from the number of species to differences within species, and can be correlated to the span of survival for a species. It is d ...

within the family Rutaceae. The collection is one of the most diverse citrus germplasm collections. Aside from its foundations of supporting research, the collection also supports educational tours and extension activities through the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

David Karp David Karp (born July 6, 1986) is an American businessperson, best known as the founder and former CEO of the microblogging platform Tumblr. Karp began his career, without receiving a high school diploma, as an intern under Fred Seibert at th ...

photographed the fruit and trees of the CVC, which are placed on the web by Toni Siebert.

Curators

* R. Smith (1909–1911) Superintendent of Whittier and Rubidoux Labs * John Eliot Coit (1911–1912) Superintendent of Whittier and Rubidoux Labs * Herbert John Webber (1912–1936) Director of Citrus Experiment Station * Leon Dexter Batchelor (1936–1946) Director of Citrus Experiment Station * Willard Paul Bitters (1946–1982) Professor of Horticulture * Robert K. Soost (1982–1986) Professor of Genetics * E.M. Nauer (1982–1989) Specialist * M.L. Roose (1986–1995) Professor of Genetics * R.W. Scora (1986–1995) Professor of Botany * K.D. Bowman (1990–1992) Senior Museum Scientist * Tracy L. Kahn (1995–current) Senior Museum ScientistCitrus Genetic Resources in California Analysis and Recommendations for Long-Term Conservation
page 15

Notes

References

Citrus Variety Collection HistoryArticle about rare citrus fruit
like

Yuzu Yuzu (''Citrus'' × ''junos'', from Japanese language, Japanese or ; ) is a citrus fruit and plant in the family Rutaceae of China, Chinese origin. Yuzu has been cultivated mainly in East Asia, though it has also recently been grown in New Z ...

Sudachi Sudachi (''Citrus sudachi''; Japanese: スダチ or 酢橘) is a small, round, green citrus fruit of Japanese origin that is a specialty of Tokushima Prefecture in Japan. Harvested before it fully ripens to yellow, it is tart and not eaten as ...

and Kabosu

External links

Citrus Variety Collection website

Fruit Maven Website, impression of visit in the collection

{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of California, Riverside Citrus Variety Collection Citrus Variety Collection Agricultural research institutes in the United States Agriculture in Riverside County, California Citrus industry in California Nature conservation in the United States Research institutes in California