Short answers, pulled from the story.
The sweet orange originated in a region encompassing Southern China, Northeast India, and Myanmar. It is not a wild fruit but arose in domestication in East Asia as a cross between a mandarin orange and a pomelo, with the earliest mention in Chinese literature dating from 314 BC.
The sweet orange group is subdivided into four classes: common oranges (which make up about two-thirds of all orange production), blood or pigmented oranges, navel oranges, and acidless oranges. The Valencia and navel are the most commercially significant cultivars in the United States.
Spanish travelers introduced the sweet orange to the American continent. Christopher Columbus may have planted the fruit on Hispaniola during his second voyage in 1493, and Pedro Menendez de Aviles brought the orange to Florida in 1565 when he founded St. Augustine.
Citrus greening disease is caused by the bacterium Liberobacter asiaticum and has been the most serious threat to orange production since 2010. In areas where it is established, trees live for only five to eight years and never bear fruit suitable for consumption. It is spread primarily by the Asian citrus psyllid.
The word orange traces back to the Sanskrit naraṅga, meaning orange tree, a word from the Dravidian language family of South India. It entered Late Middle English in the 14th century via Old French, passing through Persian and Arabic forms along the way. The first recorded use of orange as a color name in English dates to 1512.
In 2024, world production of oranges was 67 million tonnes. Brazil led production with 23% of the total, followed by China, Mexico, and Egypt.