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Regarding the origin of this accession, the INRA San Giuliano website, 'Avana apireno' originated in 1810 in Italy (most probably Sicily). However, Russo et al (1977), referencing Russo et al (1975), state:

"The 'Avana Apireno' mandarin was discovered in a 'Avana' orchard in the Picanello area of Catania 1962. At that time 3 trees that produced fruit with few seeds were recognized. From that time, the clonal offspring of those trees tested for many years in different places of Southern Italy have confirmed this quality...The production and quality of the fruit are similar to that of the 'Avana' and the 'Avana Apireno'...A nucellar line produced from one of the 3 original trees in 1962 has confirmed the low seediness of the mother tree. However the nucellar line has fewer seed per fruit than the mother tree..." (RR Krueger, 03/21/2008)

Notes from W.P. Bitters's trip to Japan 1963: "Very small fruit, yellow to yellowish brown, rind 3 mm thick, hollow core, 3 seeds, juicy, rich, very little rag, tangelo taste, appears polyembryonic, too small for commercial use, try as rootstock."

Small to medium sized mandarin, very puffy, sweet but very overripe now. (E.M. Nauer, 03/1987)

A strange mandarin. Very light orange, almost just dark yellow. Puffy, moderately rough rind. Peels and sections well. Flesh light orange, very juicy and sweet, almost acidless. Seeds large, about 1 per section. Section membranes very tough to chew. (E.M. Nauer, 01/18/1989)

Tanaka (1961) considers 'Kabuchi', 'Keraji', and 'Oto' to be "...three closely related cultigens...compris[ing] an isolated group ... characterized by yellow soft [skin] of very early maturity borne on twigs bearing distinctly winged broad [leaves]. Only the first is known in Japan mainland, as being cultivated in Kagoshima Pref. for a long time, while the last two are exclusively Okinawa Citrus." In addition to the previous description, Tanaka (1961) states that the seeds are polyembryonic and that "the aroma of the rind was very fragrant...[t]he pulp was extremely sweet, meaty, fragrant and almost without acidity, being very good quality." Yamamoto et al. (2004) collected fruit described as 'Keraji' from five locations and fruit labelled as 'Kabuchi' from seven locations. Three of the collections of 'Keraji' were found to be "'Keraji'-like" with smooth rind textures and few seeds, whereas the two other collections of 'Keraji' had fruit that were "'Kabuchi'-like" with rough rind textures and seedier fruit. Isozyme analysis showed the same pattern. Likewise, Tanaka (1961 pp. 92-96) described some differences in 'Keraji' fruit obtained from different geographic areas. Thus is appears that there is sometimes mis-identification of these two similar cultivars. At this time, the 'Kabuchi' accession is still in quarantine and it will be several years before it is released and its fruit evaluated and compared with the 'Keraji' accession. (R.R. Krueger, 2021-09-03)

Information and pictures of 'Keraji' from the University of California Riverside Citrus Variety Collection.

"C. sunki is considered to be native to China and is said to be a widely employed rootstock in China and Taiwan." (Hodgson, 1967, pp 525-526)

"Differs from the sweet mandarin orange in having smaller fruits with intensely acid pulp. The type of this variety is the sour mandarin called sand#252;n kat in Cantonese, propagated from seed in the Swatow region of Kwantung, where it is commonly used as a rootstock for grafting. G.W. Groff in 1918, in a manuscript report covering his work on citrus done in China under Swingle's supervision for the former Bureau of Plant Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, described the sand#252;n kat as follows:

"'Fruits slightly depressed-globose, 2.9-3.3 cm long, 3.3-3.6 cm diam., with smooth, loose peel about 4 mm thick, capucine yellow (Ridgway, pl. 3) when ripe; oil glands small, round, far apart, fragrant; segments 9, easily separated; segment walls thin, tender, white; core 6-8 mm diam., soft; pulp deep chrom yellow (Ridgway, pl. 3), composed of small, short, pulp-vesicles, clinging together but irregularly arranged and easily broken; juice reddish yellow, very sour; seeds about 9, rounded at one end, pointed at the other, showing white parallel lines from base to tip; leaves lanceolate-elliptical, blades 6.8 X 2.5 cm, rather acutely cuneate at the base and narrowed to a blunt apex, with about 10 pairs of lateral veins; petioles nearly wingless.'

"This variety is widely grown about Swatow, China, where it is used as a rootstock upon which to graft the Ponkan or mi-tong-kan ("honey pot orange") and other famous varieties widely exported from Swatow.

"Probably some of the other sour mandarins called kat by the Cantonese are forms of this variety. Some of the so-called kat varieties with large fruits, which as they ripen may become sweet enough to eat, are probably hybrids between the variety austera and the sweet mandarin, C. reticulata, or the sweet orange, C. sinensis." (Swingle, 1943, p 415; Swingle and Reece, 1967, pp 381-382)

A small sour mandarin. (EM Nauer, 03/1987)

Sunki is widely used as a rootstock in China but has not had extensive evaluation in other areas. It is tolerant of tristeza and xyloporosis but susceptible to exocortis. Sunki is reported to be susceptible to Phytophthora but has survived well in some trials. It is also said to be tolerant of blight-like diseases in Brazil. Trees propagated on Sunki are reported to be highly salt tolerant, moderately cold hardy, and only slightly susceptible to chlorosis on calcareous soils. Trees on Sunki have been reported to be smaller than standard in China and Texas but large in Florida and California. Fruit yield and quality are at least equivalent to trees on sour orange or Cleopatra mandarin. Sunki is polyembryonic but has a higher proportion of zygotic seedlings than many other rootstocks. (Summarized from Wutscher, 1979, p 251; Castle, 1987, pp 373-374; Castle et al, 1993, p 25)

This is the "standard" accession of 'Sunki'. A recently received selection is RRUT 444. (RR Krueger, 07/09/2009)

Budded on Orogold sweet. This tree was pulled by mistake in 1950. Fortunately seedlings of it were growing in the nursery. Propagations have been made from several of these seedlings. Will be set out in 1951. (WP Bitters, 04/17/1951)

A small fruited mandarin called C oleocarpa or timkat (in southern China) is described in [Hodgson, 1967, p 525]. This accession may or may not be the same cultivar. Probably not, in my opinion; but what do I know? Only what Dr Bitters tells me, and he won't tell me much. (EM Nauer, 1986)

Small mandarin, heavy crop, medium orange rind color, peels & sections well, too tart. (EM Nauer, 03/1987)

There are some gaps in the history of this accession. Apparently it originally came to the US as budwood in 1919 and remained in USDA control until at least 1935, when it was PI'ed. It arrived at Riverside in the mid-1930's (1938 being estimated from accessions with similar CRC numbers), but in what form is not specified (archival sources note "budwood?"). Apparently a tree was planted but pulled by accident in 1950. A budded tree was planted in 1951, apparently from a seedling budsource. From that point, the history is better documented. (RR Krueger, 2017-12-21)

See also information from the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection.

According to Harty and Anderson (1995), 'Ueno' matures between early October and early November in Jaoan, which is indeed about 2 weeks earlier than 'Miyagawa'. In 1995, there were approximately 2000 ha in production in Japan (second in the very early group to 'Miyamoto'). According to Yang (1994), 'Ueno' has less albedo, higher sugar content, and earlier maturity than 'Miyagawa'. Park et al (2010) reported that 10 genes were up-regulated in 'Miyagawa' and 'Ueno' and related these findings to phenotypic differences . (RR Krueger, 07/05/2011)

"Miyamoto arose as a limb mutation discovered in 1960 on a Miyagawa Wase tree on L Miyamoto's property, Shimotsu-cho, Wakayama Prefecture.

"Although thought to be virus-free when first released, it was discovered that Miyamoto was carrying citrus mosaic virus, known in Japan as 'Toromikan' (tiger mandarin) which slowed down the rapid increase in plantings. Nevertheless, Miyamoto is currently the most popular Goko Wase [editor's note: very early satsuma group] variety with an estimated 2,500 ha in production.

"Miyamoto, which matures 10 days and 15 to 20 days earlier than Okitsu and Miyagawa respectively, has other superior traits such as good colour, particularly the flesh, and a high Brix level. The fruit is medium in size and more spherical in shape than Okitsu or Miyagawa. Miyamoto is reported to be a hgih yielding variety and has a tendency to set a large crop."

In China, the fruit is described as "Fruit obloid, yellowish orange, sizes uniformly in 5.5 cm X 6.8 cm, apex flattened, oil glands slightly conspicuous. Fruit marketing season commences in middle-late September. TSS above 8.0 %, acid content below 1.0 %. In the areas with higher accumulated temperature, it matures 15 days earlier than Miyagawa wase." (RR Krueger, 08/06/2010)

I talked to Paco Llatser in Manzanillo, Mexico in August, 2011. He explained the story behind 'Nichinan ichigo' and 'Iwasaki'. Paco had gone to Japan to look for Satsumas to introduce in Spain. The Japanese had many, many Satsuma selections and Paco was overwhelmed. He settled on these two to introduce to Spain. 'Iwasaki' is very early (early to mid-September in Spain). It has good taste and fruit quality (size, color) and packs well. Unlike some other Satsumas, it is vigorous and grows well on 'Carrizo'. It is becoming the most widely planted Satsuma in Spain. 'Nichinan ichigo' is probably a littler earlier than 'Iwasaki'. It has good qualities and is also vigorous but has not been released in Spain. (RR Krueger, 08/26/2011)

I talked to Paco Llatser in Manzanillo, Mexico in August, 2011. He explained the story behind 'Iwasaki' and 'Nichinan ichigo'. Paco had gone to Japan to look for Satsumas to introduce in Spain. The Japanese had many, many Satsuma selections and Paco was overwhelmed. He settled on these two to introduce to Spain. 'Iwasaki' is very early (early to mid-September in Spain). It has good taste and fruit quality (size, color) and packs well. Unlike some other Satsumas, it is vigorous and grows well on 'Carrizo'. It is becoming the most widely planted Satsuma in Spain. 'Nichinan ichigo' is probably a littler earlier than 'Iwasaki'. It has good qualities and is also vigorous but has not been released in Spain. (RR Krueger, 08/26/2011)

This accession was received from the US Horticultural Research Laboratory from a tree propagated from a tree formerly at the Whitmore Foundation Farm (WFF). The USHRL accession at WFF is stated in the WFF Accession Book to be "cpb-1-174 = fortunella sp plant china 1922". Another section in the Accession Book refers to "cpb 10174". The admitedly incomplete list of CPB numbers on file at NCGRCD does not show a CPB 1-174; however, it does show a CPB 10174 which is indeed stated to be "C japonica 'seedless kumquat'". The archival records also equate CPB 10174 with RCRC 2377. RCRC 2377 is an inactive accession at Riverside as of 1986. However, archival records for RCRC 2377 state: "This is not a kumquat...resembles a small mandarin." (comment by WP Bitters, ca 1969). This suggests that at some point, this accession of 'Sunki' was mislabelled as a seedless kumquat. A personal communication from Dr KD Bowman of USHRL received 07/08/2009 states: "Sunki is a small fruited mandarin that I have used in many crosses. I don't think it would be mistaken for kumquat by anyone very familiar with citrus. The oldest Sunki tree at Whitmore, 9E-2-22, is what I have used for most of my crosses. Regarding the greenhouse source of Sunki sent to you, I haven't seen it and can't offer much comment on that. The plant you indicated as the field source of the greenhouse tree, 9W-2-16, no longer exists at that location. That 9W-2-16 tree was moved to another location and appears to be typical of our 9E-2-22 Sunki at that new location. I would put more weight on the characteristics of our Sunki in the field than I would on any historical records about CPB numbers." Thus it appears that this is a legitimate accession of 'Sunki' irregardless of any documentation errors.

More information on 'Sunki' and a summary of its rootstock characteristics is available at PI 539678/RCRC 3143. (RR Krueger, 07/08/2009)

A more recent budwood introduction of this genotype is RRUT 455. As a budwood introduction, RRUT 455 may be truer to type and not have juvenility issues. Therefore, RRUT 289 should be considered for de-accessioning when (and if) RRUT 455 is released from quarantine and evaluated. (RR Krueger, 09/02/2010)