The number of mandarin varieties economically explored is very restricted, in spite of their commercial importance. The Active Citrus Germplasm Bank, of the `Centro de Citricultura Sylvio Moreira/IAC' holds around 383 accessions of mandarins and hybrids, which are analyzed in botanical, genetic and agronomic aspects. As a part of this program, this work aims the fruit morphological description through 38 characters of the following mandarins: Satsuma Unshiu Wase, Clementina, Mel, Portuguesa, Natsu Mikan, Dancy, Cascalho, Campeona, Mexerica-do-Pará and Mexerica-do-Rio. The mandarin trees are about 8 years old spaced 7.5 m between lines and 5.5 m between plants, and were grafted on Cleopatra. A large phenotypic variation in most of the analyzed characters was observed. The best characters, from the economic point of view, are dispersed through the analyzed accessions and can be further explored in genetic breeding programs. The cluster analysis carried out with characters measured quantitatively can be useful for the knowledge of the philogenetic distances among each accession.
Citrus; mandarins; cluster analysis; gene bank; breeding
