Citropsis is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. They are known generally as African cherry oranges.Swingle, W. T., rev. P. C. Reece. Chapter 3: The Botany of Citrus and its Wild Relatives. In: The Citrus Industry vol. 1. Webber, H. J. (ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. 1967. They are native to Africa.Yahata, M., et al. (2006). Production of sexual hybrid progenies for clarifying the phylogenic relationship between Citrus and Citropsis species. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 131(6), 764-69.
This genus is in the subfamily Aurantioideae, which also includes genus Citrus. It is in the tribe Citreae and subtribe Citrinae, which are known technically as the citrus fruit trees.Citrus Variety Collection. College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. University of California, Riverside. Citropsis and the genus Atalantia are also called near-citrus fruit trees. The genus Citropsis is thought to be an ancestral group of genus Citrus. Fruit-bearing intergeneric hybrids have been established between Citropsis gabunensis and Citrus wakonai.Smith, M. W., et al. (2013). First fruiting intergeneric hybrids between Citrus and Citropsis. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 138(1), 57-63. Demand for the roots, supposedly an aphrodisiac, may lead to the overexploitation of the tree.Mmali, J. Uganda's 'sex tree' under threat. BBC News 25 July 2007.
Taxa include: Citropsis angolensis – Angola cherry orange Citropsis articulata (syn. C. preussii, C. schweinfurthii) – West African cherry orange Citropsis daweana – Mozambique cherry orange Citropsis gabunensis – Gabon cherry orange Citropsis gabunensis var. lacourtiana – Sankuru cherry orange Citropsis gilletiana – Gillet's cherry orange Citropsis latialata – Ikongu cherry orange Citropsis le-testui – Le Testu's cherry orange Citropsis mirabilis – Ivory Coast cherry orange Citropsis noldeae Citropsis tanakae – Sierra Leone cherry orange Citropsis zenkeri – Zenker's cherry orange
References
External links Sorting Citrus Relatives Citropsis. The Plant List.