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Star Ruby

This type is red. It was obtained by the irradiation of a Hudson Foster variety of seed in Texas in 1959, and is characterised by very deeply coloured flesh and a better external colour than found in more recent varieties.

Its tree is medium-sized to large and of average hardiness. Its fruit is yellow on the outside, of considerable size and the rind is soft. The pulp is a reddish colour, with few or no seeds and an agreeable taste. The peel is very thin. The juice content is very high and its taste is sweeter and less bitter than that of Marsh and other pigmented varieties.

It is gathered in the first or second season, as of December. The quality of this variety is very good.

This is the standard or model grapefruit with which other varieties are usually compared. It needs less heat to ripen the colour of the pulp than the Redblush variety. Irradiation has caused some ill effects too which are made manifest in its genetic rearrangement: the tree is of slow growth, compact and not very developed; it is also very sensitive to pruning of the neck, to herbicides and to channelling which is produced by the Tristeza (Sadness) virus found in the wood and occurs before it would in the Marsh and Ruby varieties. The fruit of this variety can be stored in good commercial condition for several months.