Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Grapefruit

Citrus × paradisi

Description:

The grapefruit (Citrus × paradisi), is a subtropical citrus tree known for its sour fruit, an 18th-century hybrid first bred in Barbados. When found, it was named the "forbidden fruit"; it has also been misidentified with the pomelo or shaddock (C. maxima), one of the parents of this hybrid, the other being sweet orange (C. × sinensis). These evergreen trees usually grow to around 5–6 meters (16–20 ft) tall, although they can reach 13–15 meters (43–49 ft). The leaves are dark green, long (up to 150 mm, 6 inches) and thin. It produces 5 cm (2 in) white four-petaled flowers. The fruit is yellow-orange skinned and largely an oblate spheroid; it ranges in diameter from 10–15 cm. The flesh is segmented and acidic, varying in color depending on the cultivars, which include white, pink and red pulps of varying sweetness. The 1929 US Ruby Red (of the Redblush variety) has the first grapefruit patent. The fruit has become popular since the late 19th century; before that it was only grown as an ornamental plant. The United States quickly became a major producer of the fruit, with groves in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. In Spanish, the fruit is known as toronja[4] or pomelo.[5] wikipedia

Notes:

backyard

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

No Comments

LaurieWinters
Spotted by
LaurieWinters

St. Petersburg, Florida

Spotted on Sep 27, 2011
Submitted on Dec 22, 2011

Related Spottings

Citrus Tachibana Orange tree Limonero

Nearby Spottings

female Mallard Mallard Duck Green Bottle Fly and Honey Bees Wood Stork

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team