Mediterranean Sweet Orange
MEDITERRANEAN SWEET

"This variety was introduced into California some years ago by Thomas A. Garey, and with the exception of Washington Navel, has been and still is the favorite; fruit medium siz, oblong; nearly seedless; very tender and juicy; tree entirely thornless; a vigorous grower, bears young and is very prolific; of the gove there are two farieties in [Florida], which are similar in almost every respect, the only difference being that the fruit of one is round, while Mr. Garey's is oblong." [Seven Oaks Nursery Catalog 1900, Seven Oaks FL, p13.]

The story of Thomas Garey's development of the Mediterranean Sweet is an odd of mistaken identities. Sometime in 1870, Garey purchased several citrus trees from nurserymen Ellwanger & Berry of New York to grow in his California groves.  One of them was labelled a Shaddock (a citrus variety with a notoriously acid flesh), but when he grew it out, it proved to be a sweet orange of extraordinary quality.  He sent samples to various citrus experts on the West Coast asking what they thought; they tought it wasn't a Shaddock, but a sweet orange of Mediterranean origin.  Garey characterized his mystery tree thusly--"the tree thornless, a strong grower, easy and a heavy bearer, the fruit large size, rind medium thickness, almost and in a majority of instances, entirely seedless, highly colored rind and pulp very solid, juicy, and of a fine, sweet and agreeable flavor" ["Letter Thomas A. Garey, Los Angeles, April 10, 1879," Riverside Daily Press (April 19, 1879), 1].  He called the fruit "Garey's Favorite" in his inital dispersement of cuttings. He shipped plants to citrus grower A. J. Bidwell of Jacksonville, Florida, who grew it out and found that it resembling a variety already growing in Florida, known as the Mediteranean Sweet." The Florida version had a spheroidal fruit, Garey's oblong. General H. S. Sanford had procured a number of Mediterranean Sweet varieties, including the Jaffa orange, a relative of the Mediterranean Sweet.  

The vogue of the Mediterranean sweet lasted in America until the 1930s when it disappeared.  It was, however, grown widely in Australia as a juice orange.  Seed from the Australian trees was brought back to the United States to keep the variety in existence in California under the auspices of the Pacific Horticulture Society.

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705, Royal Steadman 1919.

David S. Shields