Author Topic: Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid  (Read 1088 times)

JoshuaTilaranCR

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 156
    • Los Angeles, Tilaran, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
    • View Profile
Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid
« on: December 30, 2021, 12:35:02 PM »
Right now I have both a pink flesh (I think) finger lime and a rangpur lime flowering and I want to remake the cross. As of now I've taken the rangpur pollen and put it on the finger lime.

How was the cross first made? Who was pollen and who was fruit parent? When there are a couple more finger lime flowers open I'll cross them back to the rangpur just for redundancy.

pagnr

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 941
    • View Profile
Re: Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2021, 11:44:06 PM »
Here is the info from the PVR patent application

Origin and Breeding Open pollination: ‘Australian Blood’ lime was identified from progeny of open-pollinated seedlings grown from seeds of a zygotic seedling of Rangpur lime grown adjacent to a row of Citrus australasica var. sanguinea seedlings (red-flesh finger limes). Rangpur lime is a citrus rootstock cultivar that yields acid mandarin-like fruits. It has the botanical name of Citrus x limonia (Watson et al, 1984). The seedlings from which the ‘Australian Blood’ lime was identified were culled from other seedlings of the zygotic Rangpur lime seedling based on the obvious Citrus australasica habit and characteristics that they displayed. As a consequence of these characteristics, it is assumed that the pollen parent of the Australian Blood lime was a seedling of C. australasica var. sanguinea. The seedlings with C. australasica habit and characteristics were rowed out for field evaluation and monitoring for growth habit, fruit yield and characteristics. The Australian Blood lime was selected in 1990 when 12 trees were propagated as rooted cuttings for further evaluation. Selection criteria: it was selected for the culinary qualities of its striking red, highly aromatic acid fruits. ‘Australian Blood’ lime will be propagated vegetatively by grafting or budding to standard citrus rootstocks.
Breeder: Dr. S.R. Sykes, CSIRO Plant Industry (Horticulture Unit), Merbein, VIC.

This info from here, http://www.gondwananativelimes.com.au/australian_native_red_lime.html

Some other articles say that Ellendale Mandarin is the other parent. Not sure why this is reported.

There are a couple of assumptions in the above, i.e. that a red Finger lime was the parent, assumed because the Blood Lime has red pigmented fruit.
This may not be 100% correct, as another non red/red Finger lime could possibly contribute red genes to an orange fruited Rangpur.

As far as I know some of the Finger Lime parents used by CSIRO came from from the USA collections, possibly seed introductions.
I did grow one of these Finger Limes some years ago, from CSIRO budwood. It was a cherry red small fruit, with cherry flavour.
Not sure if that was the assumed parent.

ps The CSIRO Merbein is now closed. Not sure if the PVR patent has expired yet ??
I once saw some F2 selections from Blood Lime at a Farm Field Day, looked like bigger bumpy finger limes.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2021, 03:08:06 AM by pagnr »

citrange

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 146
    • UK - 15 miles west of London
    • View Profile
    • Home Citrus growers
Re: Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid
« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2021, 05:26:24 AM »
I have been growing a potted Blood Lime (or Red Centre Lime) for a number of years.
I find it is not a vigorous plant and has remained quite small in my less than perfect citrus climate. It produces a few fruits every year which usually remain a very dark purple-black colour until over mature. Finally they do reach the bright red colour usually seen in photos of this variety. I have several times planted seeds which germinate ok but produce very weak plants which die when still small.
For anyone interested in breeding from Australian citrus species, the CSIRO facility at Merbein did fantastic work. I have corresponded with Steven Sykes who led the research work there and he told me that all the experimental plantings and wild selections at the site were destroyed when it closed down. In my opinion that was an act of vandalism.
Here are a couple of GoogleEarth images of part of the site. They show the destruction between 2010 and 2012.





pagnr

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 941
    • View Profile
Re: Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid
« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2021, 06:07:28 AM »
I actually prefer to use the Blood Limes when full sized but still green as 'limes'.
When red ripe, I don't think they can quite match a good red Finger Lime.
Citrange are you growing a Blood Lime cutting or grafted on rootstock ??

JoshuaTilaranCR

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 156
    • Los Angeles, Tilaran, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
    • View Profile
Re: Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2021, 09:13:16 AM »
Ok thanks for that info. I was thinking that using pollen from the finger lime onto the rangpur would result in what's described above, that the leaves and growth habit would be similar to the finger lime. I crossed it the other way around because my finger lime has less flowers and I can mark them easier.

As an aside, this particular finger lime had a flower pollinated last year and still has a tiny lime but it has never grown. I'm hoping this year's actually grow.

citrange

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 146
    • UK - 15 miles west of London
    • View Profile
    • Home Citrus growers
Re: Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2021, 03:35:50 PM »
Quote
Citrange are you growing a Blood Lime cutting or grafted on rootstock ??

Grafted - but I'm not absolutely certain on to what rootstock. Probably C. trifoliata (Poncirus) because that's what I have mostly had available but could also have been a citrange. I had a few Morton seedlings.
See http://www.homecitrusgrowers.co.uk/australiannativecitrus/bloodlime.html

pagnr

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 941
    • View Profile
Re: Remaking the Australian Red Lime Hybrid
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2022, 06:08:36 PM »
Fingerlimes have a tendency to produce numerous male flowers and drop fruitlets. It's probably more certain to pollinate into a good fruit setter like Rangpur, Calamondin etc to recover hybrid seed. If you are not particularly keen on producing a "Lime", a mandarin or Blood orange might also be a good seed parent.