Ponkan (Chinese: 椪柑, Japanese: ポンカン) ('Chinese Honey Orange')– is a member of the tangerine family, but its fruits are the size of oranges. The fruit is round and around 7-8 cm wide in size.
The city of Teresópolis in Brazil holds an annual Ponkan festival.[1]
It was originally introduced to the United States by Reverend Barrington of Melrose, Florida, about 1880. His original grove is still in production, and under the care of Marion Holder near Hawthorne in Putnam county. The fruit is still very popular in the Melrose area, and often sold at roadside stands there. Trees can be propagated by seed, as they breed true, or grafted onto other rootstocks, trifoliate orange being the most popular. Andrew Willis, of Apopka, Florida, promoted the Ponkan heavily in the early 1900s. The fruit is very sweet. Trees are heavy bearing every other year, and sometimes the limbs break due to the heavy yields. Growers resort to propping the limbs up with sticks at times, though if the limb bends gradually down and grows in that position it will do better in future years. "R.C. Pitman, Jr., of Apopka, Florida, organized the Florida Ponkan Corporation in 1948, served as its President, and has continuously promoted the culture of this delicious fruit. "[1]