Ruby

Synonyms

Ruby Blood (sec. Cottin 2002)

Cultivar or taxon

Citrus x aurantium L., pro sp. [Blood Orange Group] (sensu Mabberley 1997, Bayer et al. 2009); Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck (sensu Swingle and Reece 1967; sensu Tanaka sec.Cottin 2002)

Origin

Hodgson (1967) noted that:

"The Ruby variety was introduced from the Mediterranean (country unknown) to Florida about 1880 and brought to California not long thereafter. From its appearance and behavior, it may prove to be an old Italian variety. In both Florida and California, Ruby is highly uncertain and variable with respect to development of blood coloration. For this reason, it has not become popular and remains merely a novelty. In California's coastal region, it never develops red pigmentation. Ruby is at its best, with marked variability, however, in hot interior districts. In such districts, the quality is excellent and part of the crop colors beautifully.

Several unnamed clones or selections are known to exist which differ in blood coloration development and other minor respects."

The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following notes on the cultivar (clone DPI-441-10): "The budwood program’s parent trees originated in the research block of Dr. Bill Castle from the property of Orie Lee in St. Cloud. Released to industry in 1999."

Description

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 glabrous, length medium; wings absent, if present, narrow or medium, adjoining the blade. Leaflets one, margin bluntly toothed, shade leaflet blades flat or weakly conduplicate, sun leaflet blades flat, weakly or strongly conduplicate. Scent of crushed leaflets sweetly orange-like. Fruit as broad as long or longer than broad; rind yellow (7-10), yellow-orange (11), orange (12), or red-orange (13); rind texture slightly rough (4-5); firmness leathery; navel absent; flesh orange or red/purplish-tinged; taste acidic-sweet.

Hodgson (1967) provdied the following additional notes on the cultivar:

"Fruit medium-sized, globose to slightly oblong; faint areolar circular furrow or ridge; seeds relatively few. Well-colored, with reddish flush under favorable conditions. Rind medium-thick, finely pitted, and lightly pebbled. Flesh tender and juicy; flavor rich. Flesh color orange, streaked (rather than flecked) with red under favorable conditions. Midseason in maturity.

Tree moderately vigorous, compact, medium-large, and productive."

Notes

The Chiefland Budwood Facility (2010) provided the following notes on the cultivar (clone DPI-441-10): "Sweet Orange (35) is a blood orange; however it does not develop red coloration under normal Florida growing conditions."

References

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.

Resources

Search for this cultivar in NCBI Entrez, NCBI Nucleotide, or NCBI Expressed Sequence Tags

Additional information on this cultivar at University of California: Riverside Citrus Variety Collection