Bang Mot tangerine | |
---|---|
Species | Citrus reticulata |
Cultivar | 'Bang Mot' |
Origin | Bangkok, Thailand |
The Bang Mot tangerine (Thai: ส้มบางมด, RTGS: som Bang Mot, pronounced [sôm bāːŋ mót]) is a local cultivar of the mandarin orange grown in the Bang Mot area of Thon Buri, Bangkok, Thailand. Despite its common name, it is a mandarin orange of the species Citrus reticulata and not a tangerine (Citrus tangerina). In 1924, a local farmer brought cuttings from a mandarin grove in Bangkok Noi District and planted them at Bang Mot, Thung Khru District near Bang Mot canal in 1924. This area has very fertile soil with elevated levels of potassium giving the fruit a sweet-sour taste.[1] There were up to 96 square kilometres (37 sq mi) of tangerine groves in the past.
Flooding in Thon Buri in 1967 killed many of the Bang Mot tangerine trees.[2] The floods made many farmers reluctant to plant it again. Rapid urban expansion of Bangkok also reduced the land available for planting. They then moved the plant to Rangsit canal, until becoming another famous tangerine, Rangsit tangerine[3]