Gardeners can choose from several different types of kumquats. Below are details for three types. All of them are suitable for growing in containers.

Meiwa Kumquat

Meiwa kumquat is considered to be the best of all the different kumquat. Native to China, Meiwa kumquat has thick leaves with narrow winged leaf stalks. The branchlets can be thorny.

This is noted for the round, somewhat large kumquat fruits. The rind is tender with a taste that varies from sub-acid to sightly sweet. The fruits can be eaten whole peel and all.

Meiwa kumquats can be preserved in sugar. These orange fruits, 1 ½ inch wide, are eaten raw as well.

Nagami Kumquat

Nagami is the most widely grown and the best known of all the kumquats. This tends to be more hardy than the other kumquats.

It is a small to medium sized bushy tree with slender branches. A mature plant can be eight feet or more in height. However, when grown in pots they tend to be fairly small.

This tree features slender branches and small, deep green foliage. Tolerant of cold, this plant is free of thorns. The plant is a hybrid of the lemon and the mandarin orange..

It is widely grown in China and Japan. The flower petals are tinged with purple. This plant was once considered a species of citrus, but that is no longer the case.

Nagami kumquat is often grown in warmer areas of Florida as an ornamental in gardens. The hotter the climate, the more fruitful this plant will be.

The small oval fruits are acid with some sweetness. These tend to be very seedy.

Nagami fruits are mostly used for canning. These are one two inches in diameter and three to four inches long. They can be rounded to oblong or ellipsoid

These fruits ripen to dark yellow or deep orange. They’re usually ripe from October through June. These kumquats last well on the plant.

This fruit is great for eating fresh, pickled, preserved, and made into jams and marmalade. Before using them for marmalade or jam, allow the fruits to age slightly because this results in a better tasting marmalade or jam.

Marumi Kumquat

This kumquat is native to China, and is widely grown in Japan. It is also known as pound kumquat.

The plant is quite cold hardy and less thorny than some kumquat plants.

Marumi kumquat is a moderately vigorous, dense rounded tree. The leave are small.

The small globose fruits are 1 ¼ inch wide. These ripen to dark orange. The thin, smooth skin is slightly sweeter tasting than that of some other kumquats.

The fruits have an acid pulp and a sweet tasting rind. The fruits are edible and slightly sweeter tasting than some kumquats. These are made into preserves, jellies, and jams.