‘Cipo’ Sweet Orange and its Unique Growth Habit

Abstract

‘Cipo’ is a seedy, mid-season sweet orange ( Citrus sinensis[L.] Osbeck) with a distinctive procumbent or "weeping" growth habit. Fruit characteristics of ‘Cipo’ are very similar to ‘Pineapple’ sweet orange, a cultivar commonly grown for juice production in Florida. Apomictic ‘Cipo’ seedlings 24 to 40 weeks old were different from apomictic ‘Pineapple’ seedlings for several aspects of vegetative morphology, including horizontal or weeping growth of the terminal shoot, broader shoot-petiole angle, and perhaps greater branching. Preliminary observations indicate that these traits are transmitted from ‘Cipo’ to some hybrid progeny. These ‘Cipo’ characteristics may have potential value for the development of unique ornamental or dwarf citrus cultivars and for use as genetic markers. Efforts are underway to define the inheritance of the ‘Cipo’ growth habit and to transmit it to scion and rootstock hybrids for further testing.