Notes from donor (email, 05/28/2012): "[This accession] is from a line of citrons kosher for Jewish ritual use, because it and its parents, as far as is known, are of never-grafted stock. "Temoni" is cognate to "Yemen," and this accession is of the same type as the 'Yemen' we have in the CVC / NCGRCD, CRC 2847. This type has few or no juice vesicles, just seeds rattling around in the empty locules; the fruits are very large; and the albedo is thick, firm and sweet. Several such types are cultivated in Yunnan, where they are preferred because the albedo is the fruit part of primary economic importance, for medicinal use, or for candying. At some point in centuries past, this type was brought from China to Yemen, perhaps by the explorers and traders that plied that route in medieval times. It has become very much prized by observant Jews, some of whom consider it a very authentic etrog, because it comes from a country in which grafting is unknown, or was when it was brought to Israel decades ago. There it is cultivated commercially for Jewish ritual use. Few Jews remain in Yemen, and it is unclear if it is still grown in that troubled land. [Name suppresed] of Brooklyn, New York is greatly enamored of the purity and excellence of this citron, and has written a treatise extolling its virtues. C. 2002 or 2003 he established a planting in northern San Diego County, which proved unsuccessful because it was located in a bowl where cold air collected in winter. Next he established a planting of roughly 100 trees with Donna Buono of Morning Song Farm in Fallbrook. This planting did not success either, because she uses organic practices, which made it virtually impossible to obtain the cosmetically perfect fruit required by the high-priced etrog trade. The seeds for this line were taken from a fruit or fruits collected from the abandoned Temoni planting at Morning Song Farm on March 13, 2008, and conveyed shortly thereafter to Toni [Siebert]".
Additional information in Site Narrative. Note: these are open pollinated seedlings, yet were assigned an RRUT. (RR Krueger, 05/31/2012)