ORIGIN OF A GRAPEFRUIT VARIETY 
HAVING PINK-COLORED FRUITS 
A. D, SHAMEL 
Riverside, California 
N INTERESTING illustration 
A of the origin of citrus varieties 
from bud variations is found in 
the development of the Foster 
grapefruit. This variety was introduced 
by Reasoner Brothers of Oneco, Fla. 
As to its origin, Mr. E. M. Reasoner 
writes under the date of August 6, 
1915: “This is a sport from the old- 
fashioned variety Walters. The Wal- 
ters tree is growing in the Atwood 
grove near us, and the one limb that 
has pink-fleshed fruit is of good 
size, say 4 or 5 inches in diameter, and 
bears considerable fruit. About seven- 
eighths of the tree is Walters, the one 
limb only being Foster.” 
In their catalog for 1919 the Reasoner 
Brothers state in their description of 
this variety that it is identical with the 
Walters variety, from a tree of which it 
is a sport, except in the color of flesh. 
A description of the fruit is quoted 
from Governmental Pomological Notes 
as follows: “Next to the skin the flesh 
is a light purplish-pink color which 
shades to a clear translucent color at the 
core; there is very little pulp.” In this 
same catalog Prof. Hume, the noted 
horticultural authority of Florida, is 
quoted as writing “my opinion of the 
Foster grapefruit is that it is a fine 
fruit. It is the best early grapefruit 
that I know of. It was in good eating 
condition at Winter Haven (Fla.) 
earlier than any other variety: we have 
tested, and I think we have them nearly 
all.” 
The writer has not had the opportu- 
nity of studying this variety in Florida. 
He has observed young trees and fruits 
of this variety in Arizona in an orchard 
located near Phoenix during the month 
of December, 1918. The fruit from 
these trees, particularly the distribution 
of color in the flesh, resembled closely 
the above description of this condition 
in Florida grown fruits. The outside 
of the rind of the Foster grapefruit 
grown in Arizona, at the time they were 
examined, showed faint but unmistak- 
able traces of pink color. In a com- 
parison of the eating quality of this 
Foster fruit with that of other grape- 
fruit varieties, including the Marsh, the 
writer’s notes indicate that it was infer- 
ior and less desirable than that of the 
Marsh or the other yarieties tested. 
In Figs. 7 and 8, recent photographs 
are shown of Florida grown Foster 
grapefruit ; these photographs were fur- 
nished to the writer by Mr. Walter T. 
Swingle. Some of the characteristics 
of these fruits and the leaves from a 
tree of this variety can be identified in 
these illustrations. Fig. 6 shows a ~ 
typical Foster grapefruit tree. 
The history of this variety furnishes 
another instance of the origin of a hor- 
ticultural variety from a bud sport. 
In July, 1919, the writer’s attention 
was directed, by Mr. L. V. W. Brown, 
to a pink-flesh sport in a Marsh grape- 
fruit tree near Riverside. It was found 
that these pink-flesh fruits were 
borne by a single large branch in a 
typical Marsh grapefruit tree. An in- 
spection of the pink-flesh fruits borne 
by the same tree revealed the fact that, 
aside from the color of the flesh and 
the rind, the two fruits were as nearly 
identical as any two Marsh grapefruits 
usually are when taken from different 
branches of the same tree. This 
branch has been known to produce pink- 
flesh grapefruit for at least three years. 
Buds have been taken for propagation 
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