Fragaria

Fragaria /frəˈɡɛəriə/[1] is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. There are more than 20 described species and many hybrids and cultivars. The most common strawberries grown commercially are cultivars of the garden strawberry, a hybrid known as Fragaria × ananassa. 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.

This article is about the plant genus. For the most commonly cultivated strawberry, see Strawberry.

Fragaria
Fragaria vesca illustration from Atlas des plantes de France 1891, by A. Masclef
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Subfamily: Rosoideae
Tribe: Potentilleae
Subtribe: Fragariinae
Genus: Fragaria
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Species

20+ species; see text

Description

Strawberries are not true berries.[2] The fleshy and edible part of the fruit is a receptacle, and the parts that are sometimes mistakenly called "seeds" are achenes.[2][3]

Etymology

Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the word is possibly derived from "strewn berry" in reference to the runners that "strew" or "stray away" from the base of the plants. David Mikkelson argues that "the word 'strawberry' has been part of the English language for at least a thousand years, well before strawberries were cultivated as garden or farm edibles."[4][5]

Classification

There are more than 20 different Fragaria species worldwide. Numbers of other species have been proposed, some of which are now recognized as subspecies.[6] 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.[7]

Diploid species
Fragaria daltoniana, a species from the Himalayas
Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), a Northern Hemisphere species
Flower of Fragaria nilgerrensis, an Asian species
Wild strawberries (Fragaria viridis) from Sosnovka, Penza Oblast, Russia
Strawberries (Fragaria viridis) gathered in Buryatia, Russia

Tetraploid species

Pentaploid hybrids

Hexaploid species
  • Fragaria moschata Duchesne - Musk strawberry (Europe)

Octoploid species and hybrids

Decaploid species and hybrids

Uncategorized hybrids

Ecology

A number of species of butterflies and moths feed on strawberry plants: see list of Lepidoptera that feed on strawberry plants.

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See also
  • Accessory fruit
  • Mock strawberry (Duchesnea/Potentilla indica) and barren strawberry (Potentilla sterilis, Waldsteinia fragarioides) are closely related species in other genera which resemble Fragaria.
  • Strawberry tree (disambiguation) is a name for several trees that are unrelated to strawberry.
  • The breeding of strawberries

References
  1. Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
  2. Esau, K. 1977. Anatomy of seed plants. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
  3. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia: Fragaria virginiana.
  4. "Etymology of Strawberry". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  5. Darrow, G.M. (1966). The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology 3. Early History of the Strawberry: 16
  6. "Species records in the database (for the query: genus = Fragaria)". U.S. National Plant Germplasm System. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
  7. Darrow, George M. The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology. New York. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. online text
  8. Hummer, K.E. (2012). "A new species of Fragaria (Roseaceae) from Oregon". Journal of Botanical Research Institute of Texas. 6 (1): 9–15. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  9. Bors, R.H.; Sullivan, J.A. (2005). "Interspecific Hybridization of Fragaria vesca subspecies with F. nilgerrensis, F. nubicola, F. pentaphylla, and F. viridis" (PDF). J. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 130 (3): 418–423.
  10. Bors, Robert H.; Sullivan, J. Alan (August 1996). "Production of Interspecific Hybrids between Hexaploid Fragaria moschata and the diploid species F. nubicola and F. viridis". HortScience. 31 (4): 610–610.
  11. Karp, David (July 2006). "Berried Treasure". Smithsonian Magazine.

Further reading
  • Hogan, Sean (chief consultant) (2003), Flora: A Gardener's Encyclopedia, Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-538-1.
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