Plant · P-411

Mandarin

Citrus reticulata

Mandarin covers the loose-skinned tangerines and satsumas, with fruit eaten raw or cooked into puddings, cakes and confectionery and the dried rind used to flavour baked goods. Cold hardiness comes down to the cultivar rather than the species: satsuma withstands 18 F once fully dormant in midwinter, yet the same tree takes serious damage at 24 F in early December before it has hardened off, and it's one of the few citrus worth planting in the open where hard freezes occur - Clementine and Dancy, by contrast, are appreciably tender. It's self-fertile, so a single tree bears fruit on its own.