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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Riverside, California » National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #233730

Title: Recent Advances in Aurantioideae Taxonomy

Author
item Krueger, Robert

Submitted to: International Citrus Congress Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/31/2010
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Citrus is a major fruit crop throughout the world. Serious study of the taxonomy of Citrus and allied taxa began with the work of WTR Swingle of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the early 20th century. Swingle's major summary of his work and that of other researchers initially appeared in 1943, and received minor revision in 1967. Since that time, there have been various revisions of the genus Citrus as well as its allied taxa. Some of these revisions have relied upon more current techniques, such as molecular analysis, and in some cases have resulted in substantial proposed revisions to Swingle's taxonomic system. This paper reviews these recent advances, particularly in relationship to management of citrus genetic resource collections. This review was performed in order to better understand the current status of scientific understanding of these relationships with the view of using the information to rationalize our germplasm holdings or revise the accession records. In the long term, this will contribute towards more efficiently managing NPGS germplasm holdings of citrus and related taxa. Potential increases in efficiency will not only be in the use of Government resources used for this purpose but also in scientific usage of these resources for investigations into problems in cultivation, disease and pest management, etc.

Technical Abstract: More than 60 years have passed since Swingle (1943) reviewed Aurantioideae taxonomy and more than 40 since the minor revision of Swingle and Reece (1967). In this time period, various genera within the Aurantioideae have been revised or new species published. Revised genera include Clymenia, Poncirus, Luvugna, Wenzelia, Monanthocitrus, Oxanthera, Clausena, and Murraya. In some cases, it has been proposed to split genera and in others to consolidate genera. New species have been described and published within specific genera. Recent molecular and chemotaxonomic work has also changed perspectives regarding the relationships within the Aurantioideae. This paper reviews recent work in this area from a horticultural perspective.