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Kumquat
Kumquats (/ˈkʌmkwɒt/ ⓘ KUM-kwot) (sometimes spelled cumquat in Australian English and British English), are a group of small, angiosperm, fruit-bearing trees in the family Rutaceae. Their taxonomy is disputed. They were previously classified as forming the now-historical genus Fortunella or placed within Citrus, sensu lato. Different classifications have alternatively assigned them to anywhere from a single species, Citrus japonica, to numerous species representing each cultivar. Recent genomic analysis defines three pure species, Citrus hindsii, C. margarita and C. crassifolia, with C. × japonica being a hybrid of the last two.
The edible fruit closely resembles the orange (Citrus x sinensis) in color, texture, and anatomy, but is much smaller, being approximately the size of a large olive. The kumquat is a fairly cold-hardy citrus.
The English word kumquat is a borrowing of the Cantonese gām gwāt (IPA: [kɐ́m kʷɐ́t̚]; Chinese: 金橘), from gām "golden" + gwāt "orange".
Kumquat plants have thornless branches and extremely glossy leaves. They bear dainty white flowers that occur in clusters or individually inside the leaf axils. The plants can reach a height from 2.5 to 4.5 metres (8 to 15 feet), with dense branches, sometimes bearing small thorns. They bear yellowish-orange fruits that are oval or round in shape. The fruits can be 2.5–5 centimetres (1–2 inches) in diameter and have a sweet, pulpy skin and slightly acidic inner pulp. The fruit is often eaten whole by humans and has a taste that is sweet and somewhat sour. Kumquat trees are self-pollinating.
Citrus taxonomy is complicated and controversial. Different systems place various types of kumquats in different species or unite them into as few as two species. Botanically, many varieties of kumquats are classified as their own species, rather than cultivars.[citation needed] Historically, they were viewed as falling within the genus Citrus, but the Swingle system of citrus taxonomy elevated them to their own genus, Fortunella. Recent phylogenetic analysis suggests they do fall within Citrus. Swingle divided the kumquats into two subgenera, the Protocitrus, containing the primitive Hong Kong kumquat, and Eufortunella, comprising the round, oval kumquat, Meiwa kumquats, to which Tanaka added two others, the Malayan kumquat and the Jiangsu kumquat. Chromosomal analysis suggested that Swingle's Eufortunella represent a single 'true' species, while Tanaka's additional species were revealed to be likely hybrids of Fortunella with other Citrus, so-called xCitrofortunella.
One recent genomic analysis concluded there was only one true species of kumquat, but the analysis did not include the Hong Kong variety, seen as a distinct species in all earlier analyses. A 2020 review concluded that genomic data were insufficient to reach a definitive conclusion on which kumquat cultivars represented distinct species. In 2022, a genome-level analysis of cultivated and wild varieties drew several conclusions. The authors found support for the division of kumquats into subgenera: Protocitrus, for the wild Hong Kong variety, and Eufortunella for the cultivated varieties, with a divergence predating the end of the Quaternary glaciation, perhaps between two ancestral populations isolated south and north, respectively, of the Nanling mountain range. Within the latter group, the oval, round, and Meiwa kumquat each showed a level of divergence greater than between other recognized citrus species, such as between pomelo and citron, and hence each merits species-level classification. Though Swingle had speculated that the Meiwa kumquat was a hybrid of oval and round kumquats, the genomic analysis suggested instead that the round kumquat was an oval/Meiwa hybrid.
Hybrid forms of the kumquat include the following:
The kumquat plant is native to Southern China. The historical reference to kumquats appears in literature of China from at least the 12th century. They have been cultivated for centuries in other parts of East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. They were introduced into Europe in 1846 by Robert Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural Society, and are now found across the world.
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Kumquat
Kumquats (/ˈkʌmkwɒt/ ⓘ KUM-kwot) (sometimes spelled cumquat in Australian English and British English), are a group of small, angiosperm, fruit-bearing trees in the family Rutaceae. Their taxonomy is disputed. They were previously classified as forming the now-historical genus Fortunella or placed within Citrus, sensu lato. Different classifications have alternatively assigned them to anywhere from a single species, Citrus japonica, to numerous species representing each cultivar. Recent genomic analysis defines three pure species, Citrus hindsii, C. margarita and C. crassifolia, with C. × japonica being a hybrid of the last two.
The edible fruit closely resembles the orange (Citrus x sinensis) in color, texture, and anatomy, but is much smaller, being approximately the size of a large olive. The kumquat is a fairly cold-hardy citrus.
The English word kumquat is a borrowing of the Cantonese gām gwāt (IPA: [kɐ́m kʷɐ́t̚]; Chinese: 金橘), from gām "golden" + gwāt "orange".
Kumquat plants have thornless branches and extremely glossy leaves. They bear dainty white flowers that occur in clusters or individually inside the leaf axils. The plants can reach a height from 2.5 to 4.5 metres (8 to 15 feet), with dense branches, sometimes bearing small thorns. They bear yellowish-orange fruits that are oval or round in shape. The fruits can be 2.5–5 centimetres (1–2 inches) in diameter and have a sweet, pulpy skin and slightly acidic inner pulp. The fruit is often eaten whole by humans and has a taste that is sweet and somewhat sour. Kumquat trees are self-pollinating.
Citrus taxonomy is complicated and controversial. Different systems place various types of kumquats in different species or unite them into as few as two species. Botanically, many varieties of kumquats are classified as their own species, rather than cultivars.[citation needed] Historically, they were viewed as falling within the genus Citrus, but the Swingle system of citrus taxonomy elevated them to their own genus, Fortunella. Recent phylogenetic analysis suggests they do fall within Citrus. Swingle divided the kumquats into two subgenera, the Protocitrus, containing the primitive Hong Kong kumquat, and Eufortunella, comprising the round, oval kumquat, Meiwa kumquats, to which Tanaka added two others, the Malayan kumquat and the Jiangsu kumquat. Chromosomal analysis suggested that Swingle's Eufortunella represent a single 'true' species, while Tanaka's additional species were revealed to be likely hybrids of Fortunella with other Citrus, so-called xCitrofortunella.
One recent genomic analysis concluded there was only one true species of kumquat, but the analysis did not include the Hong Kong variety, seen as a distinct species in all earlier analyses. A 2020 review concluded that genomic data were insufficient to reach a definitive conclusion on which kumquat cultivars represented distinct species. In 2022, a genome-level analysis of cultivated and wild varieties drew several conclusions. The authors found support for the division of kumquats into subgenera: Protocitrus, for the wild Hong Kong variety, and Eufortunella for the cultivated varieties, with a divergence predating the end of the Quaternary glaciation, perhaps between two ancestral populations isolated south and north, respectively, of the Nanling mountain range. Within the latter group, the oval, round, and Meiwa kumquat each showed a level of divergence greater than between other recognized citrus species, such as between pomelo and citron, and hence each merits species-level classification. Though Swingle had speculated that the Meiwa kumquat was a hybrid of oval and round kumquats, the genomic analysis suggested instead that the round kumquat was an oval/Meiwa hybrid.
Hybrid forms of the kumquat include the following:
The kumquat plant is native to Southern China. The historical reference to kumquats appears in literature of China from at least the 12th century. They have been cultivated for centuries in other parts of East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. They were introduced into Europe in 1846 by Robert Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural Society, and are now found across the world.