Woodruff
(Labrusca, Vinifera?)
Woodruff is a handsome, showy, brick-red grape with large clusters and
berries, but its taste belies its looks, for the flesh is coarse and
the flavor poor. The variety would not be worth attention were it not
for its excellent vine characters; the vines are hardy, productive and
healthy. The grapes ripen a little before Concord and come on the
market at a favorable time, especially
or a red grape. Woodruff
originated from C. H. Woodruff, Ann Arbor, Michigan, as a chance
seedling which came up in 1874 and fruited first in 1877.
Vine very vigorous, hardy. Canes dark brown; nodes enlarged,
flattened; tendrils continuous, bifid or trifid. Leaves round;
upper surface light green, dull, rugose; lower surface
greenish-white, pubescent; leaf usually not lobed with terminus
acute; petiolar sinus wide; basal sinus lacking; lateral sinus
shallow and narrow when present; teeth shallow. Flowers
semi-fertile, early; stamens upright.
Fruit ripening before Concord. Clusters broad, widely tapering,
usually single-shouldered, compact; pedicel short, thick, smooth;
brush long, pale green. Berries large, round, dark red, dull,
firm; skin thin, tender, adherent, slightly astringent; flesh pale
green, translucent, juicy, tough, coarse, very foxy; fair in
quality. Seeds adherent, one to five, broad, short, plump, blunt,
brown.