Xàbia : Facts and Anecdotes / Part I - Did you know…that the citrus fruit, which is not only Xàbia´s but also the Comunidad Valenciana´s major fruit crop and an emblem of the province, is the most commercialised fresh fruit worldwide?

Its history and development in the Mediterranean region is so interesting that I have decided to dedicate this month´s article to its history. Next month, in Part II, we shall look at Xàbia and its citrus plantations, past and present.

The citrus fruit, originally from South East Asia, was introduced to the Mediterranean region at different points in history. The first citrus fruit here was the „poncil“ (citrus medica ), said to have been brought by Alexander the Great from his conquests of the shores of the River Indus in 325 BC. The seeds were dispersed with great success in parts of the Mediterranean. Later the Romans, who appreciated its medicinal qualities, spread it further in the region until it came to the Balearic Islands, where it has been since the 5th century.

At a later stage, Arab merchants discovered the lime and the bitter orange, also from India, and brought them to all their imperium, including to Al Andaluz in the 10th century. Due to its better characteristics it soon replaced the poncil, of which  there are only small cultivations left in Corsica today.

It was only in the 16th century that Portuguese sea-farers brought home the sweet orange from their travels to China, hence they were called China or Lisbon oranges to distinguish them from the bitter sort thus far known in Europe. The sweet mandarine came even later, brought in the 19th century also from China, as the name indicates, by the British, who introduced it to all their colonies.

From the start there was natural, spontaneous hybridization among the different citrus fruits. One such was the clementine, a cross between the common mandarine and the sweet orange. This was discovered in a religious orphanage led by Father Clement in a town near Oran, Algeria, and named in his honour. This hybrid arrived in Valencia at the beginning of the 20th century and is present today with its hybrids in all the plantation zones of the Comunidad Valenciana, including Xàbia.

A spontaneous mutation was also found in Brazil in the 18th century. This was the Navel (Navelina) orange, which then arrived in Spain only in the 20th century. Over time, there have been mutations of this too, like the Washington Navel and its early and late varieties that form a major part of the citrus plantations in Xàbia.

The satsuma mandarine is a natural mutation from Japan coming from an ancestral mandarine from China. In the 19th century it was taken to Clifornia, from where it was brought to the Comunidad Valenciana also in the 20th century.

The only citrus that does not originate from the extreme Orient is the grapefruit, which was discovered in Barbados and is a natural hybrid of the  „pummelo“ (pomelo) and the sweet orange, both of which had been brought there from Asia in the 17th century. It too was introduced to the Iberean Peninsula in the 20th century.

The pomelo, the poncil, the mandarine and the papeda are the only four pure and authentic fruits of the citrus family. They originate from a common ancester. All others are hybrids of these four species.

Next month we will take a look at how the citrus fared in our town of Xàbia in the past and the present and whether there is a future for this oh so popular family of fruit, symbol of our sunshine province.
Source : „ De Fruits i Fruiters „ by A. Lopez-García. Conselleria d´Agricultura, Generalitat Valenciana
(Anita Pichler - AMUX)

Poncil - Citrus medica Reticulata - Limonero poncil - Poncil de ojós