A perennial with arching runners rooting at nodes to form new plants, native to North and South America, Europe (N as far as Ireland), and Asia; leaves in a basal rosette, with three toothed leaflets; flowers 5-petalled, white; fruit consisting of swollen, fleshy, red receptacle bearing brown, dry, achenes (the seeds) on the surface. The wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) has fruits 2 cm/¾ in long. The alpine strawberry is a variety with few or no runners. The garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is a larger-fruited hybrid first raised in 18th-c France. The hautbois strawberry (Fragaria moschata) has purplish, musky fruits. (Genus: Fragaria, 15 species. Family: Rosaceae.)
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20+ species; The most common strawberries grown commercially are cultivars of the Garden strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa. MorphologyThe strawberry is an accessory fruit; Key to the classification of strawberry species is recognizing that they vary in the number of chromosomes. As a rough rule (with exceptions), strawberry species with more chromosomes tend to be more robust and produce larger plants with larger berries (Darrow). Diploid species Fragaria daltoniana Fragaria iinumae Fragaria nilgerrensis Fragaria nipponica Fragaria nubicola Fragaria vesca (Woodland Strawberry) Fragaria viridis Fragaria yezoensis Tetraploid species Fragaria moupinensis Fragaria orientalis Hexaploid species Fragaria moschata (Musk Strawberry) Octoploid species and hybrids Fragaria x ananassa (Garden Strawberry) Fragaria chiloensis (Beach Strawberry) Fragaria iturupensis (Iturup Strawberry) Fragaria virginiana (Virginia Strawberry) Decaploid species and hybrids Fragaria × Potentilla hybrids Fragaria × vescanaNumerous other species have been proposed. The Mock Strawberry and Barren Strawberry, which both bear resemblance to Fragaria, are closely related species in the genus Potentilla. PestsA number of species of Lepidoptera feed on strawberry plants; EtymologyThe name is derived from Old English strēawberiġe which is a compound of streaw meaning "straw" and berige meaning "berry". Interestingly, in other Germanic countries there is a tradition of collecting wild strawberries by threading them on straws. There is an alternative theory that the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon verb for "strew" (meaning to spread around) which was streabergen (Strea means "strew" and Bergen means "berry" or "fruit") and thence to streberie, straiberie, strauberie, straubery, strauberry, and finally, "strawberry", the word which we use today. Popular etymology has it that it comes from gardeners' practice of mulching strawberries with straw to protect the fruits from rot (a pseudoetymology that can be found in non-linguistic sources such as the Old Farmer's Almanac 2005). TriviaThe Norwegian municipalities of Norddal and Kvæfjord have strawberries in their coat-of-arms. The strawberry is the state fruit of Louisiana. List of Fragaria resources, USDA GRIN Fragaria Taxonomy Database Listing of Fragaria species, also from a USDA website Medicinal uses of strawberries in Armenia Fragaria chiloensis pictures from Chilebosque A wikimanual of Gardening: Strawberry Strawberry pest management guidelines Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Strawberry |
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