There are two kinds of orange trees, the sweet and the sour. The sour orange was the first to be grown in europe. It was first brought in by the moors who attacked and entered southern spain and sicily around the ninth century.

By the eleventh century the moors were quite firmly in control of the countries they had taken over. There they planted many trees including the sour orange. Sour oranges were widely grown in southern europe until the fifteenth century which increased trade with the orient brought sweet oranges are still grown and eaten, sweet oranges to europe. Although some sour oranges are still grown and eaten sweet oranges are tastier than the sour ones.

When christopher columbus sailed for the new world (north and south america) he carried seeds of oranges and many other citrus fruits with him. The seeds were planted on the island of hispaniola. citrus trees grow well in the tropical climate of the west indies and the land now known as florida. Today the united states leads the world in the production of oranges. The state of florida has the greatest number of oranges trees and produces more sweet oranges than any other state or country.