Asfar, Blood Red, Curry Red, Glenred, Hennlinger, Hennlinger’s Ruby, Red Marsh, Red Radiance, Red Seedless, Rio Grande, Ruby Blush, Ruby Red, Ruby, Rubyblush, Salé, Shary Red, Supreme, Zinbaa Asfar (sec. Cottin 2002)
Citrus x aurantium L., pro sp. [Grapefruit Group] (sensu Mabberley 1997, Bayer et al. 2009); Citrus paradisi Macfad. (sensu Swingle and Reece 1967; sensu Tanaka sec. Cottin 2002)
Hodgson (1967) noted that:
"While the name Ruby has a slight time priority, Redblush seems preferable to avoid confusion with the much older Ruby orange variety. Moreover, Redblush is more descriptive of this variety and is the name most used in the region of its origin.
Ruby (Henninger Ruby Red) originated as a limb sport of Thompson that was found in 1929 by A. E. Henninger of McAllen, Texas, and patented by him in 1934. So far as is known this was the first citrus variety to receive a patent (U.S. Plant Patent No. 53).
Redblush (Webb Redblush) is said to have originated as a limb sport, also of Thompson, that was observed in 1931 by J. B. Webb of Donna, Texas, propagated soon thereafter, and introduced in 1934.
Ruby and Redblush are so similar as to be indistinguishable and for all practical purposes they may be considered to be identical. A number of similar bud mutations are known to have occurred subsequent to the two now generally propagated as Redblush or Ruby. Thus, Waibel (1953) lists seven bud mutations which tests by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station have shown do not differ significantly in appearance, season, or yield. Ziegler and Wolfe (1961) state that several mutations have occurred in Florida that cannot be distinguished from Ruby."
The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following notes under the synonymous Ruby Red grapefruit (clone F-58-39): "Originated from Dr. Mort Cohen’s closed pollination selections made at the grove near Century Tower, on the campus of UF. This was the first Ruby Red grapefruit free of exocortis....Origin: Limb sport of Thompson, McAllen, Texas 1929."
Crown compact or dense, not weeping. First-year twig surface glabrous; second- or third-year twig surface striate; thorns absent or not persistent; prickles absent or not persistent. Petiole pubescent, length short; wings medium, adjoining the blade. Leaflets one, margin entire (by misinterpretation) or bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades flat or weakly conduplicate, sun leaflet blades weakly conduplicate. Scent of crushed leaflets sweetly orange-like. Fruit as broad as long or longer than broad; rind green-yellow (6), yellow (7-10), yellow-orange (11) or orange (12); rind texture slightly rough (4-5); firmness leathery; navel absent; flesh orange or red/purplish-tinged; taste grapefruit-like.
Hodgson (1967) provided the following additional notes on the cultivar:
"Fruit similar to Thompson in all respects except for much deeper pigmentation in the flesh (but not in the juice), crimson blush on the rind, especially at points of contact between fruit; albedo pigmented. Holds on tree as well as Marsh or Thompson but with some fading of flesh color. Similar to Thompson in season of maturity.
Tree indistinguishable from Thompson or Marsh."
The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following additional notes under the synonymous Ruby Red grapefruit (clone F-58-39): "Excellent fruit yields with typical fruit shape and color of the Ruby variety....Description: Deeper flesh coloration than Thompson, blush in peel, flesh fades to pink later in the season. Season: November-May"
Bayer, R.J., D.J. Mabberley, C. Morton, C.H. Miller, I.K. Sharma, B.E. Pfeil, S. Rich, R. Hitchcock, and S. Sykes. 2009. A molecular phylogeny of the orange subfamily (Rutaceae: Aurantioideae) using nine cpDNA sequences. American Journal of Botany 96: 668–685.
Chiefland Budwood Facility. 2010. 2010 Annual report July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010. Bureau of Citrus Budwood Registration, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Winter Haven.
Cottin, R. 2002. Citrus of the World: A citrus directory. Version 2.0. France: SRA INRA-CIRAD.
Hodgson, R.W. 1967. Horticultural varieties of Citrus. In: Reuther, W., H.J. Webber, and L.D. Batchelor (eds.). The Citrus industry, rev. University of California Press. http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html.
Mabberley, D.J. 1997. A classification for edible Citrus (Rutaceae). Telopea 7: 167–172.
Swingle, W.T. and P.C. Reece. 1967. The botany of Citrus and its wild relatives. In: Reuther, W., H.J. Webber, and L.D. Batchelor (eds.). The Citrus industry. Ed. 2. Vol. I. University of California, Riverside. http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter3.html.
Waibel, C. 1953. Varieties and strains of Citrus originating in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Proceedings of the Rio Grande Valley Horticultural Institute 7: 18–24.
Ziegler, L.W. and H.S. Wolfe. 1961. Citrus growing in Florida. University of Florida Press, Gainesville. 248 pp.
Search for this cultivar in NCBI Entrez
Additional information on this cultivar at University of California: Riverside Citrus Variety Collection
Citrus ID Edition 2
October, 2011
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