Woodruff Red (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14). Woodruff Red (10).
Woodruff is a handsome, showy, brick-red grape with large clusters and berries. While very attractive in appearance its taste belies its looks, for the flesh is coarse and the flavor foxy. In spite of its attractive appearance, Woodruff would scarcely be worth attention were it not for its excellent vine characters. The vines are hardy, vigorous, productive and fairly healthy. In appearance it is a typical strong-growing Labrusca with the varied adaptabilities of that species for soils and ability to withstand adverse conditions. It ripens a little before or with Concord and comes on the market at a good time, especially for a red grape. When introduced Woodruff promised to be a valuable commercial grape but its poor quality, the fact that it does not keep well, and a pronounced tendency to crack and shatter, have kept the variety from becoming prominent for either vineyard or garden. While it is worthy of attention under some conditions because of hardiness and possibly other vine characters, yet it is hardly worth growing where other varieties of its color and season can be had.
Woodruff, or as it was first known, Woodruff Red, came from C. H. Woodruff of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He reported it as a chance seedling which came up in 1874 and fruited for the first time in 1877. It was supposed to be a cross of Catawba and Concord. It was introduced in 1885 and placed on the grape list of the American Pomological Society fruit catalog in 1889.
Vine very vigorous, hardy, produces as heavy or heavier crops than Concord, inclined to mildew in unfavorable locations. Canes intermediate in length, number and thickness, dark brown; nodes slightly enlarged, flattened; internodes medium to short; diaphragm medium to above in thickness; pith below average size; shoots pubescent; tendrils continuous, of mean length, bifid to trifid.
Leaf-buds small, short to medium, slender, pointed to conical. Leaves intermediate in size, of average thickness, somewhat roundish; upper surface light green, dull, rugose; lower surface greenish-white to bronze, pubescent; veins indistinct; leaf usually not lobed with terminus acute to obtuse; petiolar sinus intermediate in depth, medium to wide; basal sinus lacking; lateral sinus shallow and narrow when present; teeth very shallow and narrow. Flowers semi-fertile, open moderately early; stamens upright.
Fruit variable in season of ripening, usually shortly before Concord but sometimes slightly later, does not always keep well. Clusters variable in size, of fair length, broad, often widely tapering, usually single-shouldered or with largest clusters sometimes double-shouldered, compact; peduncle medium to long, variable in thickness; pedicel medium to short, thick, smooth, with scarcely any enlargement at point of attachment to fruit; brush long, pale green. Berries large to below medium, roundish to oval, dark red, dull, covered with thin lilac to faint blue bloom, sometimes drop badly from pedicel, firm. Skin thin, medium to tender, adheres strongly to the pulp, contains no pigment, slightly astringent. Flesh very pale green to nearly white, translucent, juicy, tough, coarse, very foxy, sweet at skin but quite tart at center, fair in quality. Seeds do not separate easily from the pulp, one to five, average, three or four, intermediate in size, medium to broad, short, rather plump, blunt, brownish; raphe obscure; chalaza small, slightly above center, oval, not distinct.
