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October 21, 2009 : Vitis labrusca 'Concord'
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Plant Family / Families: Vitaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Vitis labrusca ‘Concord’
Name Location: near Roswell, New Mexico, USA
Lindsay wrote today's entry:
Thank you to long-time BPotD commenter Phillip Lacock for submitting this picture of abundance (original photo | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool)!
As you might guess, the Concord grape hails from Concord, Massachusetts, where it was developed by Ephraim Wales Bull. Bull started experimenting in the 1830s for a variety that would thrive in the cold New England climate, and tasted 'Concord' for the first time in 1849. Through 1850 to 1853, the plant was propagated to make it available commercially on a small-scale. By 1854, the fruits of Bull's labour were for sale, and Bull made $3200 by selling vines for $5 each in the first year. Little money was made in succeeding years, though, as competing commercial nurseries propagated the vines in quantity and paid no royalties to Bull.
Concord grapes are often used as table grapes by home-growers. Commercially, products like Smucker's Jam and Welch's Grape Juice use this cultivar. In fact, Thomas Bramwell Welch discovered the pasteurization process using Concord grapes.
Bull's epitaph in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts reads "The Originator of the Concord Grape, He Sowed; Others Reaped". For an extensive article about Vitis labrusca 'Concord', read the Edmund Schofield article published in Arnoldia, entitled "He Sowed; Others Reaped": Ephraim Wales Bull and the Origins of the 'Concord' Grape (PDF).
As an aside, if you have horticultural or gardening questions about grapes, UBC Botanical Garden has a forum to discuss them: Grapes and Grape Vines.
Biology resource link (added by Daniel): I want to point out a thread on the forums for those of you who are fans of interesting organisms. In a discussion about identification of a slime mold, one of the forum members, forestlover, posted an extensive set of links about slime molds that are well-worth investigating.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at October 21, 2009 10:30 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Sue in Bremerton at October 21, 2009 11:33 AM
Hmm. Looks like my plum tree.
Posted by: Dori at October 21, 2009 11:59 AM
How did the one grape taste that was picked from the middle of the bunch? Delicious, I guess.
Posted by: Knox at October 21, 2009 12:20 PM
Boy is my mouth watering! :D
Thanks for the wonderful photos & enlightening write-ups every day.
Posted by: Sue at October 21, 2009 12:21 PM
they told me i couldn't grow grapes in new mexico....
the sweetness is extreme....
my write up would be....
concord grapes, the jewels of my youth...
i was the kid you didn't want to live around if you had a fruit tree.
i knew every tree...every garden...every wonderful delight....to be eaten by this little thief....little magic morsels sitting in a tree...they called to me...lol...
concords were always in october....that little italian lady would always catch me and yell at me...i'd come back later.....
Posted by: phillip at October 21, 2009 1:22 PM
I love Concord grape, or any of the dark variety. Now I just have Concord grape juice instead.
Lovely photo!
Also liked reading Phillip's comment too. Very funny story. :)
Posted by: Cambree at October 21, 2009 2:50 PM
Concord is THE grape from which we know "grape"... forget tasteless Thompson, or generic "red table" grapes-- this is it! As many say above, the taste of childhood. I introduced my husband to these long after we were married; he'd never known where real grape flavor came from! We rarely see these in stores out here; sigh.
Thanks for a fun look back!
Posted by: Sally at October 21, 2009 4:14 PM
big baskets of grapes i have memories
baskets of grapes big and small and
if lucky the red ones andhard to find
the golden muscat cannon hall if still
grown in this age
augusta withers drew a wonderful
bontanical drawing of the cannon hall
in the days when she could not use
her name
thank you daniel
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at October 21, 2009 4:21 PM
I can almost smell them by looking at the photo. Raised our family in western New York state and at this time of year the air was always filled with the heady aroma of these beauties.
One time I put a big basket out on the porch table overnight(no room in the fridge) and when I came down in the morning...what a mess! The racoons had made a raid, eaten them all, except for the skins, and left their purple footprints everywhere.
Thanks for the memory.
Posted by: Nancy at October 21, 2009 4:56 PM
The wonderful photo arouses memory.Thanks for the picture
Posted by: De Kemist at October 23, 2009 11:41 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
This entry swooped in by surpise, and off I went to my childhood. Grape season was one of the best times of the year. Mother would buy those long, rounded baskets full of grapes, and the house would fill with the aroma of them being made into jam and jelly. She always saved enough raw ones for dessert. Wow.
These are just beautiful. Thank you so much, for a new favorite entry.