Shiva Mikan – Citrus leiocarpa

Nicknamed the “honey mandarin” for its sweetness, Shiva Mikan bears small, flattened fruits of 25 to 35 g, with a flavour close to clementine. Its species, known in Japan as kōji, has been grown there for a long time. It is also one of the two parents of sudachi, along with yuzu.

• Botanical name: Citrus leiocarpa 'Shiva Mikan'
• Origin: Japan
• Hardiness: down to −15 °C
• Fruit: small (25 to 35 g), flattened, juicy and sweet, a few seeds
• Ripening: December
• Habit: slender and compact, up to about 2.5 m; very productive

In the garden

Choose your most sheltered spot, or grow it in a large pot brought in on nights below −8 °C. Full sun, rich, well-drained soil. Its small size makes it one of the best citrus for growing in pots.

The plant you receive

You receive a young grafted tree about 40 cm tall above the pot, low-grafted onto a Poncirus trifoliata rootstock from our own production. Planted young, it roots straight into your garden soil and establishes better than a tree kept in a pot for years.

Because it is grafted low, the variety itself forms the trunk: the tree stands on its own without a stake and can regrow from above the graft after a severe frost. All our citrus trees are grown at 1,000 m altitude in the Livradois, never in a heated greenhouse, with organic fertiliser only.

Grafted trees are shipped from June; the rest of the year, you can pre-order them.