King
(Labrusca)
King is similar to Concord, compared with which the vine is more
vigorous and prolific, time of ripening and length of season the same,
the clusters are one-fourth larger, the grapes are more persistent,
the pulp is more tender, the flavor nearly the same but more
sprightly, the seeds fewer in number, the wood harder and of shorter
joints and the pedicels larger. King was found in the Concord v
neyard
of W. K. Munson, Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1892. The vine was set for
Concord and is supposed to be a bud-sport of that variety.
Vine very vigorous, hardy, productive. Canes large, dark
reddish-brown; nodes enlarged, slightly flattened; internodes
short; tendrils continuous or intermittent, trifid or bifid.
Leaves unusually large, thick; upper surface green, dull; lower
surface grayish-white changing to slight bronze, pubescent; lobes
three when present, terminal one acute; teeth shallow, narrow.
Flowers self-fertile, open in mid-season; stamens upright.
Fruit mid-season, keeps well. Clusters large, long, broad,
irregularly tapering, usually single-shouldered, compact. Berries
large, round, black with thin bloom, persistent, firm; skin thick,
tough, adherent, astringent; flesh pale green, very juicy, tough,
stringy and with some foxiness; good. Seeds adherent, few, large,
short, broad, lightly notched if at all, blunt, plump, light
brown.