Brazil is the greatest citrus producer in the world, but the cultivation of citrus plants for ornamental purposes is insignificant and the research on this subject is still rare. Citrus plants are impressive for landscaping especially because of their fruits, which have different sizes, shapes and colors, and that, in general, are in natura edible. The objective of this work was to characterize, for landscaping use, six varieties of citrus with ornamental potential: Buddha's Hand citron, Nagami kumquat, Cipó orange, Imperial orange, Faustrine lemon and Venezuela mandarin, cultivated at the germplasm collection of the Centro APTA Citros Sylvio Moreira, of the Instituto Agronômico, located in Cordeirópolis, São Paulo State, Brazil. For each variety, 30 leaves, 30 flowers and 30 fruits, all mature, were collected for analysis of their morphological characteristics. The characteristics of the trees were also evaluated. The experimental design was randomized, and each variety was described by the mean value of the 30 measurements of each variable. There were prominent morphological differences amongst the six varieties, and all of them showed landscaping value.
landscape design; germplasm; citrus
