Pomelos / Citrus Pages
- ️Jorma Koskinen and Sylvain Jousse
Citus C. maxima is one of the four ancestral taxa (Citrus reticulata Blanco, mandarins; C. maxima (Burm.) Merr., pummelos; C. medica L., citrons; C. micrantha Wester, papedas) which are the ancestors of all cultivated Citrus.
Pomelo is the biggest citrus fruit. In optimal conditions it can reach the size of a basketball. Note that the pomelo (Citrus maxima) is in many languages called by the equivalent of its French name 'pamplemousse'. These languages have assigned the name pomelo to grapefruit.
The pomelo tree may be 16 to 50 ft (5-15 m) tall. Some forms are dwarfed. The young branchlets are angular and often densely hairy, and there are usually spines on the branchlets, old limbs and trunk. The leaves are alternate, ovate, ovate-oblong, or elliptic, 2 to 8 in (5-20 cm) long, 3/4 to 4 3/4 in (2-12 cm) wide, leathery, dull-green, glossy above, dull and minutely hairy beneath, the petiole broadly winged to occasionally nearly wingless. The flowers are fragrant,yellowish-white, 3/5 to 1 1/3 in (1.5-3.5 cm) long, somewhat hairy on the outside.
The fruit ranges from nearly round to oblate or pear-shaped; 4 to 12 in (10-30 cm) wide; the peel, clinging or more or less easily removed, may be green, greenish-yellow or pale-yellow 1/2 to 3/4 in (1.25-2 cm) thick. Pulp varies from greenish-yellow or pale-yellow to pink or red; is divided into 11 to 18 segments, very juicy to fairly dry. The flavour varies from mildly sweet and bland to subacid or rather acid.