Slender tree, 4-6 m tall. Spines absent or short. Leaves 6-8 cm, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, serrate; petiole narrowly winged. Flowers white, axillary, mostly bisexual. Stamens more or less united into a tube. Fruit oblate or pyriform, 5-8 cm in diameter. Rind bright yellow to orange, tinged red, with sunken oil glands, usually rough and warty; rind easily separable from the pulp vesicles. Axis hollow. Pulp vesicles loosely attached. Pulp orange, sweet or acidic.

Type: Described from Eastern India.

The mandarin or tangerine is cultivated for superior quality and delcious fruit. Cultivated mainly in the Punjab. Commonly grown varieties are:

(a) Early Feutrall. Fruit oblate; rind orange-red, smooth and glossy. Pulp sweet and juicy. Introduced from Australia. Ripens in November.

(b) Kinnow. Fruit deep yellow, apex round and flatened. Rind orange, smooth and glossy. Pulp very juicy, sweet-acidic and rich in flavour. Ripens in December-February. Introduced from N. America.