WHERE DID FLORIDA CITRUS COME FROM?
Citrus originated in Southeast Asia, but Florida’s citrus came with the first Spanish and Portuguese explorers. On his second trip in 1493, Christopher Columbus brought seeds of citrus trees and had them planted near what is currently St. Augustine. You can find citrus trees all over Florida, but the major commercial production areas are in the southern part of the state. And even there, the groves now are being crowded inland by our growing population and development. CITRUS HAS RICH HISTORY IN FLORIDA, OR HOW THE ORANGES GOT ON OUR LICENSE PLATES. From the 1500’s planting by the Spanish settlers to the present time, citrus has played an important, if not dominant role in Florida. Our sandy soil and subtropical climate are an ideal growing environment. The planting and cultivation of the trees spread quickly as the population of the state grew. Orange trees were the fruit trees of choice until the early 19th century when a French Count, Odet Phillippe, planted a grapefruit grove near
