The Off Topic Topic

[The Brain]

The language in Sweden is Swedish.

[Duque de Bragança]

mandarin is also from portuguese so that might be a tie in the the orange/portugal thing

Tangerina (Al-Gharb connection?) is the more commonly used word in Portuguese though. Brazil may be different.

As for Mandarin, the Longman refers to two etymologies, for separate meanings:

Origin mandarin 1. (1700-1800) French mandarine, from Spanish mandarina, probably from mandarín 'MANDARIN3'; perhaps because mandarins wore orange-colored clothes. 2. (1500-1600) Portuguese mandarim, from Malay menteri, from Sanskrit mantrin "adviser", from mantra; → MANTRA Mandarin (1700-1800) mandarin

[Josquius]

If an orange is a tangerina what is a tangerine?

[Syt]

Alas, with all the crappiness on Earth, that we landed a rover, equipped with a freakin' helicopter, on Mars, is blasé news.

Where is Timmah when you need him.

SF City Hall illuminated to mark the occasion.

[Duque de Bragança]

If an orange is a tangerina what is a tangerine?

Good thing an orange, of which there are several kinds, is not a tangerine per se, then, I guess. [spoiler]Tangerina is the Portuguese name of the mandarin[/spoiler]

Here is one in French for you:

a mandarine is a clémentine. 

[Syt]

a mandarine is a clémentine. 

Over here mandarine is smaller than a clementine which is smaller than an orange.

[Admiral Yi]

Is the tangerine a hybrid or a natural species?

[The Brain]

Satsumas.

[Sheilbh]

a mandarine is a clémentine. 

Over here mandarine is smaller than a clementine which is smaller than an orange.

I know what an orange is. I have literally no idea on the differences between mandarins, clementines, satsumas or easy-peelers

Edit: And I forgot tangerines!

[Syt]

Satsuma or Mandarine has no seeds, I forget which is which

[Grey Fox]

a mandarine is a clémentine. 

Over here mandarine is smaller than a clementine which is smaller than an orange.

Yeah, tha'ts the crazy french thing. We switched mandarine & clementine around.

[The Larch]

And nobody mentioned tangerines yet!  At the end of the day they're all different varieties of the same plant. The whole citrus family is a weird mix of hybrids.

[Duque de Bragança]

[spoiler]Here is one in French for you:[/spoiler]
a mandarine is a clémentine. 

Over here mandarine is smaller than a clementine which is smaller than an orange.

Selective quoting, I see. 
Fixed!

Though The Larch has yet to pick up the tangerina train. 

[Duque de Bragança]

Is the tangerine a hybrid or a natural species?

Depends on the language, and language level i.e common parlance or not.

In French, for Tyr:

CLÉMENTINE, subst. fém.
Fruit comestible proche de la mandarine :
À la mandarine « commune » on préfère maintenant la « clémentine », qui s'est imposée par sa précocité, son aspermie et sa saveur très agréable.
J.-F. LEROY, Les Fruits tropicaux et subtropicaux, Paris, P.U.F., 1968, p. 66.
Prononc. : []. Étymol. et Hist. 1929 (Lar. 20e). Dér. avec suff. -ine* du nom du Père Clément qui obtint ce fruit, vers 1902, en Oranie, par croisement d'un mandarinier et d'un oranger amer (DEI).

[The Larch]

A tangerine is a hybrid between a mandarin and a pomelo. A clementine is a hybrid between a mandarin and a sweet orange. The sweet orange itself is also a hybrid, between pomelo and mandarin.

Basically all citrus are hybrids in different degrees of three ancestral plants, "true" mandarins, pomelos and citrons.