Menu list goes here

Herbal Database Search Results

Back to: Pathways Main Search Page For Metaphysical uses visit The Witchs Haven

Fortunella japonica

Common name:	Round Kumquat	Family:	Rutaceae
Author:	(Thunb.)Swingle.	Botanical references:	200, 275
Synonyms:	Citrus japonica (Thunb.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia - China, Japan.
Habitat:	Not known in a truly wild situation[132].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Round Kumquat [B,P],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Sapindales. Rue family

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen shrub growing to 2.5m. It is hardy to zone 9 and is frost tender. It is in leaf all year. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Sunny Edge, By Walls, By South Wall, By West Wall.

Edible Uses

Fruit Pectin.

Fruit - usually cooked and used in jellies, preserves etc[183] or used as a flavouring, but it can also be eaten raw. The whole fruit, including the peel, is eaten[3, 132]. The fruit is acid whilst the peel is sweet[3, 132]. The peel is golden-yellow, smooth, thinner and somewhat sweeter than the oval kumquat, F. margarita[183]. The fruit is rich in pectin and makes excellent marmalades and jellies[240]. Vitamin C content is up to 0.24 mg/cc[240]. The fruit is about 4cm long[260].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antiphlogistic Antivinous Carminative Deodorant Stimulant.

The plant is antiphlogistic, antivinous, carminative, deodorant, stimulant[178, 218].

Other Uses

Essential.

The fresh leaves and young twigs yield 0.21% essential oil that might be suitable for perfumery[240].

Cultivation details

Prefers a moderately heavy loam with a generous amount of compost and sand added and a very sunny position[200]. Prefers a pH of 5 to 6[200]. Plants are intolerant of water logging[200].
This species is not hardy in the colder areas of the country, when dormant it tolerates temperatures down to about -5° c[200]. The young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost-tender and so it is best to grow the plants in a position sheltered from the early morning sun[K].
Kumquats are widely cultivated in China for their edible fruit, there are many named varieties[3]. The plant is less vigorous, somewhat thorny and considerably more cold tolerant[183] (the report gives no details of what this is in comparison to!). Kumquats are hardier than the various Citrus species since they cease growth when temperatures drop below 13° c but, for best results, it is best to grow them in a climate where temperatures do not fall lower than between 4 and 10° c[3]. This is because the fruit is sweeter when it ripens in warm conditions[3].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a warm airy position in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick out the seedlings into individual pots and grow them on in a greenhouse for at least their first two winters. Plant out in late spring or early summer after the last expected frosts and give some winter protection from the cold for a year or two.

Scent

Flowers: Fresh: The flowers are sweetly scented.

Cultivars

'Fucushii': A bushy, weeping variety that produces large oval fruits[260].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Rutaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[3] Simmons. A. E. Growing Unusual Fruit. David and Charles 1972 ISBN 0-7153-5531-7
A very readable book with information on about 100 species that can be grown in Britain (some in greenhouses) and details on how to grow and use them.

[132] Bianchini. F., Corbetta. F. and Pistoia. M. Fruits of the Earth.
Lovely pictures, a very readable book.

[178] Stuart. Rev. G. A. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre
A translation of an ancient Chinese herbal. Fascinating.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[260] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 Pan Books, London. 1998 ISBN 0-330-37376-5
Excellent photos of over 1,100 species and cultivars with habits and cultivation details plus a few plant uses. Many species are too tender for outdoors in Britain though there are many that can be grown outside.

Readers Comments

Plant Passporting

Rich (michael@thewitchshaven.com) Wed Sep 26 16:58:15 2001

This information has been taken from DEFRA Guide to Plant Passporting. Which places restrictions on plants which can be traded in the UK and the EU mainly because they are carriers for pests and diseases.

Beta vulgaris (Beet), Chaenomeles (Ornamental quince, Japonica), Citrus (Orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, etc.), Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster), Crataegus (Hawthorn), Cydonia (Quince), Eriobotrya (Includes loquat), Fortunella and hybrids (Kumquat), Humulus lupulus (Hop (including ornamentals)), Malus (Apple (including ornamentals)), Mespilus (Medlar), Poncirus and hybrids (Ornamental citrus), Prunus (other than Prunus laurocerasus and Prunus lusitanica) (Includes almond, apricot, cherry, damson, greengage, nectarine, peach, plum, sloe and ornamental/flowering varieties), Pyracantha (Firethorn), Pyrus (Pear (including ornamentals)), Solanum (stolon or tuber forming types) (Potato), Sorbus (other than Sorbus intermedia) (Includes rowan and whitebeam), Stranvaesia (Stranvaesia), Vitis (Grape, includes grape vine and ornamental grape).

Many other plants require pasporting for commercial growers, these include Abies, Allium ascalonicum, Allium cepa, Allium porrum, Allium schoenoprasum, Apium graveolens, Plants of the family Araceae, Argyranthemum, Aster, Brassica, Castanea, Capsicum annuum, Cucumis, Dendranthema, Dianthus and hybrids, Euphorbia, Exacum, Fragaria, Gerbera, Gypsophila, Helianthus annuus, Impatiens (all varieties of New Guinea hybrids), Lactuca, Larix, Leucanthemum, Lupinus, Lycopersicon lycopersicum, Plants of the family Marantaceae, Medicago sativa, Plants of the family Musaceae, Nicotiana, Pelargonium, Persea, Phaseolus, Picea, Pinus, Platanus, Populus, Prunus laurocerasus and Prunus lusitanica, Pseudotsuga, Quercus, Rubus, Plants of the family Solanaceae (other than plants of stolon or tuber forming species of Solanum and their hybrids), Solanum melongena, Spinacia, Plants of the family Strelitziaceae, Tanacetum, Tsuga, Verbena.

Cross references: Plants: Beta vulgaris, Humulus lupulus. Genera: Chaenomeles, Citrus, Cotoneaster, Crataegus, Cydonia, Eriobotrya, Fortunella, Malus, Mespilus, Poncirus, Prunus, Pyracantha, Pyrus, Solanum, Sorbus, Stranvaesia, Vitis.

Back to: Pathways Home page, Main Search Page Help Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Fortunella+japonica
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Fortunella+japonica

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
(You can copy, distribute, display this works but: Attribution is required, its for Non-Commercial purposes, and it's Share Alike (GNUish/copyleft) i.e. has an identical license.)
We also ask that you let us know (michael@thewitchshaven.com) if you link to, redistribute, make a derived work or do anything groovy with this information.

Pathways Home :: View Cart :: Shipping & Returns :: Contact Us :: Privacy Policy :: Philosophy :: The Witchs Haven

We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.