World of CitrusFlame Grapefruit
USDA released Flame Grapefruit in 1987. The 1995 register describes its fruit as globose and seedless with red flesh; IDtools separately describes red to purplish flesh. The cited accounts do not substantiate greater cold tolerance or general adaptability.
UCR records the accession as received in 1988 as budwood from Winterhaven, Florida, through the Budwood Registration Program, and lists it as CRC 3993, PI 539487, and VI 470.
Supplied or facilitated the Flame budwood accession received from Winter Haven, Florida.
Accessioned, evaluated, and conserved Flame Grapefruit as CRC 3993, PI 539487, and VI 470.
Sources: [1]
Published accounts differ on Flame’s early history. The 1995 register reports a Henderson seedling found in 1973 at A.H. Whitmore Foundation Farm and selected by C.J. Hearn in 1980; da Graça et al. report a Henderson seedling found in Florida in 1983. IDtools describes seedlings planted in Florida from Henderson material originating in Texas, without dates. UCR describes seed of a Ruby Red sport from C. Henderson’s Houston grove and credits C.J. Hearn with the final selection. Hale Groves attributes Ruby Red progeny through nucellar embryony. These accounts do not establish a single discovery or selection date, the exact seed-collection and planting sequence, or Flame’s embryo origin.
The 1995 register attributes selection to C.J. Hearn in 1980; UCR also credits him with the final selection. This is an attributed selection account, without a confirmed embryo origin or reconciled chronology.