Satsumas

Satsumas are a small, sweet, hardy, and nearly seedless mandarin variety which grows well in North Florida's cooler climate. Taber introduced the Owari Satsuma to the Glen Saint Mary Nurseries in 1888. In 1905, he began to experiment with satsumas, seeking the best and most durable trees. That year, he exported 10 carloads of satsumas to customers across the country.¹

Spanning about 25 acres, the nursery’s satsuma groves were “the largest and oldest bearing groves in the Southern states in 1907.”² Hume described the nursery as “the largest plantation of the [satsuma] variety in the state if not the country.”³ The Florida Agricultural Experiment Station frequently selected citrus varieties from the Glen Saint Mary Nurseries to use in their investigations. Although the nursery no longer sells satsumas, two groves remain and continue to bear fruit to this day.