The Dancy

tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...

(''

zipper A zipper (N. America), zip, zip fastener (UK), formerly known as a clasp locker, is a commonly used device for binding together two edges of textile, fabric or other flexible material. Used in clothing (e.g. jackets and jeans), luggage and oth ...

-skin'' tangerine, ''kid-glove orange'') is one of the oldest and formerly most popular American citrus varieties, but is now rarely sold."Market Watch: The wild and elusive Dancy". David Karp, LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-marketwatch-20110128-story.html The Dancy originated in 1867, as a

seedling A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...

grown by Colonel Francis L. Dancy. It was called tangerine because its parent, the Moragne tangerine, was believed to come from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

("Tangerine" meaning from

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

). It has an intense, medium-sweet flavour, and its juice is more strongly-flavoured than

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

juice. It is known (and sometimes named) for its loose, pliable peel, which is mainly orange

flavedo Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather than ...

, with very little bitter white

mesocarp Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather tha ...

(also called albedo or pith). This allows the peel to be eaten fresh and used to flavour dishes like tangerine beef. The Dancy may be a pure mandarin, unlike many commercial citrus cultivars, which are hybrids.

Classification

Chōzaburō Tanaka , often Romanized as Tyôzaburô Tanaka (November 3, 1885 in Osaka – June 28, 1976), was a Japanese botanist and mycologist. He established one of the two major Biological classification, taxonomic classification systems for citrus and related g ...

classified the Dancy in '' Citrus tangerina''; he thought it was similar or identical to the obenimikan of Japan, and close to the Keonla and Ladu mandarins of India. Under the Swingle classification, the Dancy is classed in ''

Citrus reticulata A mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), often simply called mandarin, is a small, rounded citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. The mandarin is small and oblate, unlike the ...

'', the mandarin group.

Commercial decline

Until the 1970s, most tangerines grown and eaten in the US were Dancys. It is no longer widely commercially grown; it is too delicate to ship well, it is susceptible to ''

Alternaria ''Alternaria'' is a genus of Deuteromycetes fungi. All species are known as major Phytopathology, plant pathogens. They are also common allergens in humans, growing indoors and causing hay fever or hypersensitivity reactions that sometimes lead t ...

'' fungus, and it bears more heavily in alternate years; the thin skin also transpires in storage, and it was difficult to harvest mechanically. Some hybrids are also more cold-hardy than Dancy. 2012 was the first year since 1874 that no Dancys were sold on the US market. The

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

is still widely sold by nurseries for backyard planting.

Hybrid descendants

The Dancy is a parent of many hybrid cultivars.

Pomelo hybrids

* Minneola *

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

* Sampson *

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

Orange hybrids

* Dweet tangor * Mency tangor *

Pixie A pixie (also called pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, piskie, or pigsie in parts of Cornwall and Devon) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are speculated to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cor ...

* Frua (

backcross Backcrossing is a crossing of a hybrid with one of its parents or an individual genetically similar to its parent, to achieve offspring with a genetic identity closer to that of the parent. It is used in horticulture, animal breeding, and produc ...

ed with a Pixie) The Dancy has been thought to be the pollen parent of the Orri and Fortune hybrids, but this is not upheld by genetic tests.

References

{{reflist Citrus Citrus hybrids