Tangelos are the size of an adult fist, have a tart and tangy taste, and are juicy (with less flesh inside).

They generally have loose skin and are easier to peel than oranges,[1] readily distinguished from them by a characteristic bump at the stem.

The early maturing Orlando tangelo is noted for its rich juiciness, mild and sweet flavor, large size, distinct zesty smell, and flat-round shape without a characteristic knob.

[2] Walter Tennyson Swingle of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is credited with creating the hybrid in 1911.

The Minneola tangelo (also known as the Honeybell) is a cross between a Duncan grapefruit and a Dancy tangerine and was released in 1931 by the USDA Horticultural Research Station in Orlando.

[citation needed] A hybrid propagated by Walter Tennyson Swingle and Herbert John Webber, the K-Early is an early-ripening cultivar that gained a bad reputation at first but has been increasing in popularity in recent years.

[4] A tangerine-grapefruit hybrid developed by Walter Tennyson Swingle in 1899, the Thornton is oblate to obovate, slightly rough, and medium to large in size.

The tree is high-yielding and is well-adapted to hot and dry regions, although the fruit ships poorly.

[4] In 2011, a troop of baboons was attracted to the higher sweetness of a new likely mutation in a Minneola planting in Cape Town, South Africa, prompting its propagation.