Pomelo - (Citrus grandis L.) Osbeck Syn. Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr.

General: Pomelo or pummelo is also known as limau bali or limau tambun in Malaysia. The pummelo is an exotic large citrus fruit that is an ancestor of the common grapefruit. It originated in Asia and is grown in many eastern countries including China, Japan, India, Fiji, Malaysia, and Thailand. As a luscious food, it is famous in its own right in its homeland, the Far East. Pomelo is known to be the largest of all citrus fruits that can grow to a foot in diameter and weigh up to 3 kgs per fruit. Some types of pomelo have no rind. They also have the thickest rind, which is beneficial in keeping and transport. This exotic fruit is fairly rounded or slightly pear shaped. The yellow rind of the pomelo is thick and spongy and the delicate flesh ranges from pink to rosy in color.

Name and Botany

Scientific Classification

Taxonomy

Pomelo belongs to the subgenus Eucitrus (commonly cultivated species of citrus) of the family Rutaceae.

Scientific Names:

Citrus grandis L. (pummelo)

Non-preferred names/ Synonyms

Aurintium maximum Burm.
Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck var.grandis L.
Citrus decumana Murr. non L.
Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck
Citrus aurantium L. var grandis
Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr.

Common (vernacular) Names

Bengal : Batabi lebu
Burmese : Shouk-ton-oh, kywegaw
English : Pomelo, Pummelo (US), West Indian pomelo, Thai grapefruit, Chinese grapefruit
French : Pamplemousse, Pamplemousse doux des Antilles, Chadec, Shadek (Canada, Pacifique)
Fiji : moli kana
German : Pumelo, Shaddock, Riesenorange, Lederorange
Guam : Kahet magas, lalangha
Indonesian Jeruk besar, jeruk bali, jambua, jeruk adas, jeruk machan, limau kibau, limau balak, limau besar, limau betawi
Italian : Pampaleone
Khmer Krôoch thlông
Lao (Sino-Tibetan) Kiéngz s'aangz
Malay : Limau bali, limau besar, limau tambun, limau abong (Malaysia)
Pakistan : chakotara
Philippines : Suhâ , or lukban
Palau : Jabong
New Caledonia : Le pamplemoussier
Samoa : Moli Tonga, moli meleke, moli ‘ai suka, moli suka
Spanish : Cimboa, Pampelmusa
Tonga : Moli Tonga
Vietnamese : bưởi Năm Roi
Other common names : Shaddock, Batavia lemon.

Botany

Tree: Citrus maxima is a tree 5-15 m tall, with a somewhat crooked trunk 10-30 cm thick; branches low, irregular and spreading with spines up to 5 cm long. Young branchlets are angular, often densely soft, short, often densely hairy, and there are usually spines on the branchlets, old limbs and trunk.

Pomelo tree			Pomelo leaf

Besides being quite tall and bushy there are also dwarfed types.

Leaves: Leaves, compound, appearing simple, alternate, ovate, ovate-oblong, or elliptic, 5-20 cm long, 2-12 cm wide, leathery, dull-green, glossy above, dull and minutely hairy beneath and the petiole broadly winged to occasionally nearly wingless up to 7 cm wide with glands containing oils in glands, which are released when crushed.

Flowers: The flowers are fragrant, yellowish-white, 1.5-3.5 cm long, somewhat hairy on the outside axillary, single, few or cymose, and often perfect (having both functional stamens and pistils) or staminate. The calyx is 4-5 lobed and there are usually five petals with oil glands. Stamens number between 20 and 40. In optimal conditions the pomelo bears flowers four times a year and the fruit can be picked after 8 - 12 months in four harvests. The subglobose ovary is superior, with 8-18 locules (cavities), with 4-8 ovules per locule in two rows.

Pomelo flowers		Pomelo fruits

Roots: Over 70% of pomelo tree roots are in the top meter of soil. The trees produce a taproot that can extend 2 m below the surface. Fibrous roots commonly extend well beyond the canopy. Their rooting systems are extensive enough to strongly compete with other plants in the area. The individual roots of pomelo are not as large as some other fruit trees, and they typically do not disrupt man-made structures. It is unlikely that citrus roots interfere with pipes, as underground irrigation has been used extensively for citrus worldwide.

Seeds: Pomelo is unique among citrus species in having seeds with a single embryo while others like grapefruit seeds are polyembryonic (embryos are derived from the nucellus or mother tissue of the seed). A further indication of pomelo functioning as one parent is the occasional occurrence of pink-flesh grapefruits as single branch mutations of the standard white-fleshed varieties (a character frequently found among numerous varieties of pomelo). Pomelo seeds are large, plump, pale yellowish white, flattened, and angular; they are usually monoembryonic with nine haploid chromosome number. The embryos of pomelo are "zygotic" but "nucellar and/or zygotic" for grapefruits and other citrus (Davis and Albrigo 1994). The zygotic embryos are derived from pollination of the ovary, i.e., sexually reproduced and therefore are not always similar in horticultural qualities to their parent trees. On the contrary, the nucellar embryos are derived wholly from the mother plant and display very similar characteristics to the parent plant. Evidently, if a pomelo is cross-pollinated with another pomelo it usually has many seeds. However, when crossed with a sweet orange or mandarin, the fruit is usually seedless (e.g the grapefruit is a hybrid between orange and pomelo). If there are other seedy citrus types in the vicinity these pomelo hybrids can have some seeds in them due to spontaneous pollination. Hybrids seeds of pomelo germinate quite easily and trees from seeds will not produce same or true to type fruits.

Fruit: Pomelo is the biggest citrus fruit. The fruit is a hesperidium, a fleshy, indehiscent berry that ranges widely in size, color, shape, and juice quality. In favorable conditions it can be 10-30 cm wide and weigh over 3 kg when fully ripe. The fruit ranges from nearly round to oblate or pear-shaped. The rind is thick leathery peel or exocarp containing many oil glands is known as the flavedo. It is quite hard to peel, clinging or more or less easily removed, may be green, greenish-yellow or pale-yellow 1.25-2 cm thick. The fleshy endocarp is divided into many sections containing the stalked pulp and separated by thin septa. A whitish "rag" or mesocarp (also known as the albedo) covers the endocarp. Pulp (juice vesicles) varies from greenish-yellow or pale-yellow to pink or red; it is divided into 11 to 18 segments, very juicy to fairly dry but often not as acid as other citrus fruit (Purseglove 1974). The flavor varies from mildly sweet and bland to sub-acid or rather acid and sometimes can be quite sweet.

The fruit keeps well because of its thick peel. In fact, wrapped in paper and kept in well-aerated boxes, some pomelo types taste better after three months of storage. They are especially suited to people who find other citrus types too sour.

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