Navel orange

This variety first was caused by a mutation in an orange tree, and first appeared in the early 19th century at a monastery in Bahia, Brazil.

[2] This mutation also caused it to be seedless,[1][3] meaning the only way the plant can be propagated is by cutting and grafting.

[2][4] Navel oranges are mainly an eating fruit because they are seedless and their thicker skin makes them easy to peel.

[5] They are also less suitable for juice than other orange varieties as they are less juicy, and because their flesh contains limonin, which becomes bitter when exposed to air.

[8] In the 1870s, the newly formed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) imported twelve navel orange trees from Brazil to Washington, D.C..[9] Two of these cuttings were sent to Eliza Tibbets in 1873, who planted them in Riverside, California, where the fruit became known as "Washington".