Needs cross-pollination by 'Temple' tangor, or by 'Dancy' or 'Fairchild' tangerines. Cleopatra' mandarin is often used as a rootstock on sandy soils, but higher yields have been obtained on sweet lime and rough lemon in Florida. In Texas, 'Orlando' is most productive on 'Swingle citrumelo', 'Morton citrange', 'Rangpur lime' and 'Cleopatra' mandarin. Early in season but holds well through March. Matures from December to March.
Fruit is a poor shipper.
The discoverer, G. G. R. Sharp, owner of Trout Hall Estate, Jamaica, reported that it was found growing in a pasture around 1917. He took budwood and grafted onto sour orange, and kept on regrafting the progeny with the fewest seeds. Sharp was exporting to England and Canada in 1934 and to markets in New York City in 1942. In Jamaica, matures in December and January. In January 1942, Kendal Morton purchased fruits on the New York market, sent 2 to Dr. H. Harold Hume of the University of Florida, and 4 to Dr. H J. Webber of the University of California, Riverside.