Yanxi Late Tangerine

Yanxi Late Tangerine

　　Yanxi Late Tangerine is a specialty of Yanxi Town, Changtai County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province.

　　Yanxi is the main production area of Changtai tangerines. While emphasizing scientific management, the region has increased technological investment and independently developed and cultivated a late-maturing tangerine variety. It is the only bud mutation-based late-maturing new variety of tangerine in China and has been officially named “Yanxi Late Tangerine.”

　　The late-maturing trait of fruits from the mother tree of the Yanxi tangerine and its clonal offspring is stable, with the ripening period delayed by more than two months compared to ordinary tangerines. The mother tree also features high yield, and the fruit quality maintains the inherent excellent traits of tangerines. It is the first late-maturing, bud mutation-based superior tangerine variety in China.

　　The main characteristics of the Yanxi tangerine are as follows: late maturation, with a ripening period over 60 days later than that of ordinary mandarins. It is harvested around the Spring Festival and can be available on the market until early May. The trees are vigorous, with small branch angles, dense branching, and a nearly cylindrical canopy. The fruits are flat-round, weighing 150–170 grams each, with smooth surfaces, orange-yellow color, and peel thickness of 0.26–0.31 cm. The edible rate is 75%–78.6%, soluble solids content is 13.6%–15.1%, sugar content is 10.4–12.0 g/100 ml, acid content is 0.93–1.07 g/100 ml, and vitamin C content is 33.7–37.6 mg/100 ml. The flesh is crisp, tender, and easy to separate, with a pleasant aroma and excellent quality. The tree bears fruit early and is highly productive. Trees at three years old yield an average of 15 kg per plant, and those at four years old yield an average of 17 kg per plant. The Yanxi tangerine is high-yielding, stable, premium-quality, and highly resistant to environmental stress. It shows good cold resistance and minimal fruit cracking. When using trifoliate orange, sour orange, or trifoliate orange rootstocks, the variety performs well in terms of quality and late maturity, whether cultivated on red soil hillsides or paddy soils, from the suburban areas of Fuzhou, Fujian, to the Chaoshan region of Guangdong.