FUN FACTS ABOUT ORANGES

The fruit came before the colour. The word orange derives from the Arabic nāranj and arrived in English as narange in the 14th century, gradually losing the initial ‘n’.

Botanically speaking, oranges are a subtype of berry (hesperidium).

Christopher Columbus brought the first seeds and seedlings to the New World on his second voyage in 1493.

An orange tree can grow up to ten metres and live for over a century.

You can’t tell the ripeness of an orange by its colour. An unpicked orange can stay on the tree until the following season. There are more than 600 varieties of oranges worldwide.

Navel oranges get their name from the belly button formation opposite the stem end.

There are typically ten segments inside an orange.

After chocolate and vanilla, orange is the world’s favourite flavour.

Oranges and orange blossoms are a symbol of love.

The fruit is loaded with vitamin C (about 70 milligrams for a medium orange), more than your recommended daily dietary intake.