Tangerine

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iTangerine
A tangerine fruit
A tangerine fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Citrus
Species: C. reticulata
Binomial name
Citrus reticulata
Blanco
For other uses, see Tangerine (disambiguation).

The Tangerine (Citrus reticulata) is an orange or red colored citrus fruit, a type of mandarin orange.

They are smaller than oranges, and their skin peels off more easily. Good quality tangerines will be firm to slightly hard, heavy for their size and pebbly-skinned with no deep grooves, also orange in color. Their flavor is often more sour and more sweet than that of an orange. The Honey Tangerine, which was originally called a murcott, is very sweet as its name suggests. One of the most popular kind is the Dancy Tangerine variety. Another popular kind is the Fairchild Tangerine.

The flavor is commonly used in bottle juice soft drinks, but is also enjoyable in salads, desserts, and main dishes. Tangerines are a good source of vitamin C, folate and beta-carotene. They also contain some potassium, magnesium and vitamins B1, B2 & B3.

The number of seeds in each segment (carpel) varies greatly (up to 59).

Historically the name tangerine comes from Tangier, Morocco, the port from which the first tangerines were shipped to Europe. The adjective tangerine, from Tangier or Tanger, was already an English word (first recorded in 1710).

A popular alternative to tangerines are Clementines.

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