Clementine

The clementine was born in Algeria – Brother Clément selected it in the early 20th century in an orphanage garden at Misserghin near Oran.

An evergreen small tree of the rue family, growing to 3–6 m, with glossy dark green leaves and white, strongly scented flowers. The fruits are smaller than oranges and slightly flattened, with a thin, easily peeled orange skin and sweet, usually seedless flesh. It is a hybrid of the mandarin and the sweet orange, propagated vegetatively by grafting. The fruit ripens in winter, from November to February.

Significance in the country

The clementine is owed to a French monk, Brother Clément Rodier, who selected it around 1902 in the garden of an orphanage at Misserghin near Oran. Today citrus fruit, clementines included, is grown in Algeria mainly on the fertile Mitidja plain near Algiers.

Where it grows

Mainly on the Mitidja plain in the provinces of Blida, Tipaza, Boumerdès and Algiers, and also in the Chelif valley and on the plains around Oran, where the variety originated.

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