Cam sành
{{Short description|Citrus fruit and plant}}
{{Cultivarbox
|name = Cam sành
|image = Camsanh.jpg
|image_caption = A cam sành tree
|genus = Citrus
|species = C. reticulata × sinensis
}}
{{lang|vi|Cam sành}} ({{IPA|vi|kaːm ʂâjŋ̟|lang}}){{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/ad523e/ad523e03.htm |title=Fruits of Vietnam }}{{cite web |url=http://www.cuctrongtrot.gov.vn/Tech_Science.aspx?index=detail&type=a&idtin=216 |title=Công nghệ tuyển chọn và nhân giống cây có múi sạch bệnh |access-date=2007-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121114338/http://cuctrongtrot.gov.vn/Tech_Science.aspx?index=detail&type=a&idtin=216 |archive-date=2010-11-21 |url-status=dead }} or King orange (Citrus reticulata × sinensis) is a citrus hybrid originating in Vietnam.
{{lang|vi|Cam sành}} is Vietnamese for "terracotta orange", although the fruit is more akin to a mandarin or tangerine. The fruit may be easily recognized by its thick skin, which is typically bright green, although the skin may also be partly green and partly orange, or entirely orange. Its flesh is orange, dark and sweet. This is the most popular orange variety in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Classification
This tree is referred to as the "King Tangor" or "King Mandarin" in most horticultural literature.{{cite web|last=Riverside|first=University Of California|url=http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/king.html|work=Citrus Variety Collection|publisher=UCR|access-date=29 May 2012|title=King tangor Citrus nobilis Lour}} Budwood for grafting is available through the University of California Citrus Clonal Protection Program.{{cite web|last=UCR|first=Riverside|title=Citrus Clonal Program Info Site|url=http://www.ccpp.ucr.edu/variety/235.html|access-date=29 May 2012}} One notable difference is that in temperate climates the fruit will turn a bright orange in response to colder temperatures when the fruits ripen.
It is one among many citrus fruits from the region. These include the closely related yellow cam canh and reddish to yellow cam bo ha mandarin–pomelos hybrids; the orange-colored chun or sen, yellow bak son, and pink hong orange–mandarin hybrids or "king mandarins" (C. reticulata × C. sinensis); as well as at least three non-hybridized mandarin (C. reticulata) varietals. The term "king mandarin" is sometimes applied to the cam sành itself.
Distribution
The tree was introduced to the United States in 1880, when the United States Minister to Japan John A. Bingham arranged for six cam sành fruits to be shipped from Saigon, Cochinchina to Dr. H. S. Magee, a nurseryman in Riverside, California. In 1882, Magee sent two seedlings and budwood to J. C. Stovin in Winter Park, Florida.{{cite web| url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/mandarin_orange.html|title=Mandarin Orange}}{{cite web|url=http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html|title=Horticultural Varieties of Citrus|access-date=2007-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308005736/http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html|archive-date=2008-03-08|url-status=dead}}
In Vietnam, the tree is cultivated in the Mỏ Cày district, Bến Tre province, as well as the northern mountainous areas. It has also been grown in the Bố Hạ region of Yên Thế (Yên District) of Bắc Giang province, but had been eradicated due to the citrus greening disease. Nowadays, cam sành is planted widely in northeastern Vietnam (particularly Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, and Yên Bái), as well as in several provinces of the Mekong Delta in the south, including Vĩnh Long, Cần Thơ, and Tiền Giang.{{Cn|date=April 2025}}
Cultivation
{{Expand section|date=May 2010|reason=Under what conditions does it grow? Where? When does it fruit? How is it cultivated? What are its pests? And so on - use other citrus articles as a model. A great deal of information like this is available in the FAO source already (incompletely) cited.}}
It prefers alluvial soil, and a cool, moist climate, but is widely adaptable, and does well at comparatively high altitudes. Yield is high, with an average fruit weight of {{cvt|150|–|250|g}}. Although climatic conditions are not favourable to produce high quality oranges for fresh consumption in Southern Vietnam, the tropical climate favours vigorous growth, and sweet fruit. This would be ideal for orange juice production and Cam Sanh produced from the South supplies high demand of people in the North.