Strawberry

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The strawberry (Fragaria) (plural strawberries) is the name of a genus of plants in the family Rosaceae and their edible fruits. There are more than 20 named species and many hybrids and cultivars. The most common strawberries grown commercially are cultivars of the Garden strawberry. Strawberries have a taste that varies by cultivar, and ranges from quite sweet to rather tart. Strawberries are an important commercial fruit crop, widely grown in all temperate regions of the world.

Morphology

The strawberry is an accessory fruit; that is, the fleshy part is derived not from the ovaries which are the "seeds" (actually achenes) but from the peg at the bottom of the hypanthium that held the ovaries. So from a technical standpoint, the seeds are the actual fruits of the plant, and the flesh of the strawberry is modified receptacle tissue. It is whitish-green as it develops and in most species turns red when ripe. All strawberries have seeds that are visible from the outside.

History

The typical modern strawberry, of the genus Fragaria, comes from the Americas, and is a hybrid of both North and South American varieties. Interestingly, the crossbreeding was done in Europe to correct a mistake; the European horticulturists had only brought female South American plants, and were forced to cross them with the North American variety in order to get fruit and seeds. The name Fragaria comes from "fragans", meaning odorous, referring to the perfumed flesh of the fruit. Madam Tallien, a great figure of the French Revolution, who was nicknamed Our Lady of Thermidor, used to take baths full of strawberries to keep the full radiance of her skin. Fontenelle, centenarian writer and gourmet of the 18th century, considered his long life was due to the strawberries he used to eat. Though originally from the New World, strawberries were considered poisonous in Argentina until the mid-nineteenth century.

Popular etymology has it that the name "straw" berry 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).

There is an alternative, albeit equally implausible, 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. The name might have come from the fact that the fruit and various runners appear "strewn" along the ground. However, there is no evidence that the Anglo-Saxons ever grew strawberries, and even less that they knew of this practice, as strawberries are originally from the Americas.

Classification

There are more than 20 different Fragaria species worldwide. Key to the classification of strawberry species is recognizing that they vary in the number of chromosomes. There are seven basic types of chromosomes that they all have in common. However, they exhibit different polyploidy. Some species are diploid, having two sets of the seven chromosomes (14 chromosomes total). Others are tetraploid (four sets, 28 chromosomes total), hexaploid (six sets, 42 chromosomes total), octoploid (eight sets, 56 chromosomes total), or decaploid (ten sets, 70 chromosomes total).

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 yezoensisTetraploid species
• Fragaria moupinensis
• Fragaria orientalisHexaploid species
• Fragaria moschata (Musk Strawberry) Octoploid species and hybrids
• Fragaria ×ananassa (Garden Strawberry)
• Fragaria chiloensis (Beach Strawberry)
• Fragaria iturupensis (Iturup Strawberry)
• Fragaria virginiana (Virginia Strawberry)Decaploid species and hybrids
• Fragaria ×Potentilla hybrids
• Fragaria ×vescana

Numerous other species have been proposed. Some are now recognized as subspecies of one of the above species (see GRIN taxonomy database).

The Mock Strawberry and Barren Strawberry, which both bear resemblance to Fragaria, are closely related species in the genus Potentilla. The Strawberry tree is an unrelated species.

Production trends

The FAO reports that the United States was the top producer of strawberry worldwide in 2005 followed by Spain.

Pests

A number of species of Lepidoptera feed on strawberry plants; for details see this list.

Diseases

Uses

In addition to being consumed fresh, strawberries are frozen or made into preserves. Strawberries are a popular addition to dairy products, as in strawberry flavored ice cream, milkshakes and yogurts. Strawberry pie is also popular. Strawberries can also be used as a natural acid/base indicator. They are also supposedly used for whitening teeth.

Gallery

See also

• Garden Strawberry
• Epigynous berry
• Strawberry pie

Footnotes

References

• Darrow, George M. The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology. New York. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966.

External links

• GRIN Fragaria Taxonomy Database Listing of Fragaria species, from the USDA website
• University of California, Strawberry pest management guidelines

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Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 13:38:17 PDT (GMT -0700)
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