PlantFiles: Mandarin Orange, Satsuma, Tangerine
Citrus reticulata 'Dancy'

I bought this one and a much smaller Meyer lemon 2 1/2 years ago. The Meyer Lemon Took off wildly, got big and gave me lots of lemons. The much smaller lemon (when i bought it) tree is actually 3 to 4 times the size of this tree. This tree it is barely the same size like when I bought it 2 years ago. Very slow grower and only gave me 2 small fruits a long while ago. I am so frustrated with this one that Im thinking of removing it it. The only reason I did not give it a negative experience is because of all the hurricanes and bad weather here in south west florida in the last 2 years.

This tree has the sweetest fruit I have ever tasted.

Dancy, the best-known citrus of the Mandarin type is one of the oldest Tangerine varieties available in Florida. It grew from a seed of the Moragne Tangerine of Algiers of North Africa in the grove of one Col. F. L. Dancy of Orange Mills, Florida in 1867.

Availability of the Dancy starts during the Christmas time.

Although it is easy to peel, and has a great flavor with lots of juice, the Dancy has gone to a relative obscurity in recent times because of its seediness (anywhere from 6 to 20) and a smaller size. It has since been replaced by new Tangerine hybrids like Robinson, Sunburst and the ever popular Honey (Murcott).

Dancy has a tendency to be alternate bearing, yielding a larger crop of smaller fruits one year followed by a smaller crop of larger fruits in the following year.

Dancy trees are thornless most of the time with thick foliage. The thin, delicate but leathery skin is very easy to peel, making it susceptible to severe damage during picking. Because of this problem, Dancy is required to be clipped to prevent peel tearing or plugging.