Tongaat, Northern Natal, South Africa. Ugli Fruit.

Could someone please tell me if I have the name of the fruit grown in the Tongaat area correct as 'Ugli fruit'. As I recall, the tree was large, easily climbed, filled with fairly large fruit with a rippled/bumpy skin. The skin was fairly thick and easy to peel. The taste was a grapefruit/orange mix. Delicious. I'd love to have one growing in my garden. I looked it up on Dave's Garden and they talk about a Jamaican 'Tangelo' ugli fruit. I'm not sure if its the same fruit I had as a child in the Tongaat area of Northern Natal. Hope someone can guide me here.

If someone knows of an American seller of this South African citrus tree, please let me have the name.
Or if somone has seeds they'd like to share, again of the SA fruit, I have some Meiwa Kumquat (sweet Kumquat) seeds from my own tree, for an exchange. I'd rather have an established plant though! But I'd be delighted to do an exchange of seedss.
Thanks.

Search for Meiwa Kumquat: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2007-43,GGLJ:en&q=sweet+kumquat
Pictures of the Meiwa Kumquat: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/178517/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59861/

Bedouin,
Without seeing a picture of the fruit, what you describe sounds very much like the UGLI fruit(which came from Jamaica years ago). The wrinkled, bumpy skin is not too common in citrus varieties. Now it is of course possible that the one in Natal was a seedling of its own. UGLI trees aren't that easy to find, but with the MANY citrus nurseries in Florida, you should be able to find it. You might search for it on this forum(using the search feature) or try GardenWeb Forum or others to find it. You could also contact a citrus expert, like William Castle at the Lake Alfred, Florida Citrus Experiment Station. He could probably tell you if UGLI is grown in Natal.
Natal has some sugarcane varieties of interest to me. Can you give me info about them ?
Sugarcane52

Sugarcane52, thank you very much for the info. Much appreciated. I'm certainly Going To Find....an Ugli fruit for my garden. If I just knew of someone who had one, I'd do an 'airlayer' on their tree if they were interested in an exchange - soooo much better than seeds or cuttings. Roots in 6 weeks, I've found.

I wish I could help you with your sugarcane question. The Tongaat area is certainly well known for its sugarcane, as is all of northern KwaZulu Natal (north of Durban). But I should say 'was well known'...as I've not been there for many moons.

If you contact the Durban Chamber of Commerce, maybe they'll be able to help you. A week or so ago I contacted them re the fruit in Tongaat, but have yet to hear from them.
http://www.durbanchamber.co.za/chamber/tongaat
My best,
Joanmary

Bedouin,
There is a citrus collection at Lakeland, Florida--rather extensive collection. I believe they have UGLI. A professor from there is retired now and I think that he posts on another garden forum. If Lakeland is not out of your range, I can look him up and give you some contact info. UGLI trees can be purchased up my way(North Florida), but can't be shipped back your way where it was propagated--because of regulations! West of the Suwannee River is considered to be the same as "out of state" ! I can send you a d-mail of a grower in Bartow that has large trees of UGLI which he might be willing to let someone air layer from. Let me know....Also, I have a nursery friend in Wauchula who may have local sources of it.
Sugarcane52

Sugarcane, first of all, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to help me and also for your kindness. Lakeland and Bartow are quite a distance from me. I do airlayering with my plants, rooting them in approximately 6 weeks. (Except for the Michelia Champaca and Cananga Odorata, which I've never had any success in rooting)!

If you could let me have the info re the Bartow grower, I'd be delighted. If the grower is interested, we could do an air-layer plant exchange. I grow for fragrance primarily so have some interesting plants. I also have the Meiwa Kumquat which the grower may be interested in should he/she not have one on hand. (Sweet skin+sweet fruit).

Please do Dmail me.
Thanks.
Bedouin