Smith Red Blood Orange. This Citrus sinensis hybrid cultivar was selected as a seedling from seed sent in by a homeowner Merleen Smith, from Moorpark in Ventura County, California, The first budwood was sent out in 2004 to nurseries. It has a red pigmented rind with the inner flesh being a deep burgundy red. It has a good flavor and produces less seed than the average orange. It is reported to be a zone 8 hardiness, but we have yet to give in a good test here in our zone 8. It is reported to give the darkest colored flesh in climates with warm days and cool nights, hence in the Deep South with our hot nights, we probably won't get the deep colored fruit that is had on the West Coast. University of California Riverside reports: "The tree is a vigorous grower and carries good crops of fruit. The fruit is of good size and flavor and is very low-seeded. The rind frequently carries a heavy red blush and the flesh is heavily pigmented with anthocyanin. Although the fruit is mature in late winter, it holds well into late spring, well past the season for conventional blood oranges." The plants we offer are on their own roots. Photographs are courtesy of University of California Riverside "UC-Riverside Citrus Variety Collection." You can see on their website (citrusvariety.ucr.edu).
We are not allowed to ship citrus into the following states due to their agricultural regulations: AZ, CA, FL, GA, TX
Zones 6-9.
