Kumquat

Kumquats (or cumquats in Australian English; UK /ˈkʌmkwɒt/;US /ˈkʌmˌkwɑːt/ or /ˈkʌmkwɔːt/) are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, either forming the genus Fortunella, or placed within Citrus sensu lato.

The edible fruit closely resembles that of the orange (Citrus sinensis), but it is much smaller, being approximately the size and shape of a large olive. Kumquat is a fairly cold hardy citrus.

Name

The English name "kumquat" derives from the Cantonese 金橘 (Jyutping: gam¹gwat¹), literally "golden tangerine".

Origin

The plant is native to south Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. The earliest historical reference to kumquats appears in literature of China in the 12th century. They have long been cultivated in India, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and southeast Asia. They were introduced to Europe in 1846 by Robert Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural Society, and shortly thereafter into North America.

Description

They are slow-growing evergreen shrubs or short trees, from 2.5 to 4.5 meters (8 to 15 ft) tall, with dense branches, sometimes bearing small thorns. The leaves are dark glossy green, and the flowers are white, similar to other citrus flowers, borne singly or clustered in the leaf-axils. Depending on size, the kumquat tree can produce hundreds or even thousands of fruits each year.