Citrus Fruit Developed in Rio Grande Valley - Red-Meat Grapefruit

The red grapefruit found in 1929 had a flaw: its color faded toward pink. Freezes in 1949, 1951 and 1962 pushed Texas growers away from white and pink fruit, and breeders at Weslaco kept chasing a deeper red. Richard Hensz of the Texas A&I Citrus Center treated bud wood with radiation, and the Rio Red registered in 1984 held its color and became the state's dominant grapefruit. The Legislature named the Ruby Red the state fruit in 1993.

What the plaque says

Citrus Fruit Developed in Rio Grande Valley - Red-Meat Grapefruit Unique and colorful product of saline-alkaline soil of Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Bred of Thompson Pink Wood budded on Sour Orange rootstock. Two nurserymen, A. E. Henninger of Mission and Dr. J. R. Webb of Donna, discovered red fruit in their orchards in 1929. They cast lots and Henninger won right to get a patent. He named his variety "Ruby Red," and was issued U.S. Plant Patent No. 53. Dr. Webb's new strain, "Red Blush," is equally popular. Both varieties, with rose-colored meat and red-tinged rinds, are sweet, early, delectable fruits. (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge — 12 mi
  About 2,000 acres of river forest on the Rio Grande's north bank, the surviving part of Benigno Leal's 1834 land grant, kept as a refuge since 1943 where two bird migration routes meet.
• Museum of South Texas History — 16 mi
  Edinburg's regional museum, begun in 1967 in the 1910 Hidalgo County jail and now telling the Rio Grande's story from fossils and native peoples through steamboats to the 20th century.
• La Lomita Chapel — 23 mi
  A small sandstone chapel on the Rio Grande levee, built by Oblate missionaries in 1865 and rebuilt at this site in 1899, the landmark that gave the city of Mission its name.
• Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park — 26 mi
  A 587-acre stand of Rio Grande woodland near Mission, once part of a Spanish porción, given to the state by the Bentsen family in 1944 and now headquarters of the World Birding Center.

More markers nearby

• Camp Llano Grande — steps away
• Weslaco — 1.7 mi
• Cpl. Harlon Block, USMC — 2.6 mi
• The Hidalgo County Bank and Trust Company — 3.0 mi