The recent cool weather may encourage us to cover up but it brings out the exhibitionist in the kumquat tree in the Sensory Gardens of the Dubbo Regional Botanic Garden.
Kumquats are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, forming the genus Fortunella (named in honour of the Scottish botanist Robert Fortune). They are closely related to citrus and the small edible fruit also called kumquats, resemble those of the orange tree (Citrus sinensis).
Like oranges, kumquats will only change from green to bright orange if they experience sufficiently cool temperatures to kill off the chlorophyll in the skin of the fruit.
The plant is native to Asia and has been cultivated since ancient times. The earliest historical reference to kumquats appears in the literature of China in the 12th century. Kumquats were introduced to Europe in 1846 by Robert Fortune who was a collector for the London Horticultural Society.
Robert Fortune is more famous for going to extraordinary lengths to illegally smuggle cuttings of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, from China into India on behalf of the British East India Company. Without Fortune's bravery and skulduggery, the tea industry in India is likely to have been very different.
There are three main varieties, the Nagami, the Marumi and the Meiwa. Their fruits vary in size, sweetness and shape (round and oval). The oval-shaped Nagami kumquat is the sweetest.
Like oranges, kumquats have many culinary uses but whereas oranges are peeled before eating, fresh kumquats are eaten whole.
Kumquats symbolise good luck in China and other Asian countries, where they are kept as a houseplant and given as a gift during the Lunar New Year.
Put on a warm hat and come and enjoy the exuberant winter colour of the Sensory Gardens.
By Ian McAlister & Karen Hagan