Plant · P-416

Grapefruit

Citrus x paradisi

Grapefruit is a natural hybrid of pomelo and sweet orange, first recorded in Barbados, eaten raw as a breakfast fruit or juiced, cooked into marmalade and salads, or candied for baking. Flowers rich in nectar and pollen draw bees, and the tree doubles as shade in agroforestry plantings. Its killing temperature sits at 19 F, with flowers and young fruit lost to any frost, and it is slow to come into bearing at 7 to 8 years against an economic life of 30 to 35 years - a long commitment before the first crop even where the climate suits it.