Fragaria Explained

Fragaria [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.

Description

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

Etymology

The genus name Latin: {{linktext|Fragaria derives from Latin: {{linktext|fragum ("strawberry") and Latin: {{linktext|-aria, a suffix used to create feminine nouns and plant names. The Latin name is thought in turn to derive from a Proto-Indo-European language root meaning "berry", either *dʰreh₂ǵ- or *sróh₂gs.[4] The genus name is sometimes mistakenly derived from Latin: {{linktext|fragro ("to be fragrant, to reek").

The English word is found in Old English as streawberige.[5] It is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, though it has been suggested that the word is possibly derived from "strewn berry" in reference to the runners that "strew" or "stray away" from the base of the plants. Streaw in Old English means 'straw', but also streawian means 'to strew', from the same root.[6] 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."[7] [8]

Classification

There are more than 20 different Fragaria species worldwide. A number of other species have been proposed, some of which are now recognized as subspecies.[9] One key to the classification of strawberry species is that they vary in the number of chromosomes. They all have seven basic types of chromosomes, but exhibit different polyploidy. Some species are diploid, having two sets of the seven chromosomes (14 chromosomes total), but 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.[10]

The oldest fossils confidently classifiable as Fragaria are from the Miocene of Poland. Fossilised Fragaria achenes are also known from the Pliocene of China.[11]

Diploid species

Tetraploid species

Pentaploid hybrids

Hexaploid species

Octoploid species and hybrids

Decaploid species and hybrids

Polyploidy unknown

Uncategorized hybrids

Ecology

A number of species of butterflies and moths feed on strawberry plants.

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995: 606–07
  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. Book: De Vaan . Michiel . Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages . 2008 . Brill . 9789004167971 . 239.
  5. Ðeós wyrt ðe man fraga and óðrum naman streáwbergean nemneþ: Anglo-Saxon Leechdom
  6. https://bosworthtoller.com/29134 Bosworth and Toller
  7. Web site: Etymology of Strawberry . Snopes.com . 5 October 2003 . 2013-05-08.
  8. (1966). The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology 3. Early History of the Strawberry: 16
  9. Web site: Species records in the database (for the query: genus = Fragaria) . U.S. National Plant Germplasm System . 2017-08-24.
  10. Darrow, George M. The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology. New York. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. online text
  11. Huang . Yong-Jiang . Zhu . Hai . Momohara . Arata . Jia . Lin-Bo . Zhou . Zhe-Kun . March 2019 . Fruit fossils of Rosoideae (Rosaceae) from the late Pliocene of northwestern Yunnan, Southwest China . Journal of Systematics and Evolution . en . 57 . 2 . 180–189 . 10.1111/jse.12443 . 89751967 . 1674-4918. free .
  12. Hummer . K.E. . 2012 . A new species of Fragaria (Roseaceae) from Oregon . Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas . 6 . 1 . 9–15 . 2012-06-10.
  13. Interspecific Hybridization of Fragaria vesca subspecies with F. nilgerrensis, F. nubicola, F. pentaphylla, and F. viridis . R.H. . Bors . J.A. . Sullivan . 2005 . J. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. . 130 . 3 . 418–423. 10.21273/JASHS.130.3.418 . free .
  14. Production of Interspecific Hybrids between Hexaploid Fragaria moschata and the diploid species F. nubicola and F. viridis. . Robert H. . Bors . J. Alan . Sullivan . August 1996 . HortScience. 31. 4. 610. 10.21273/HORTSCI.31.4.610b . free .
  15. Karp . David . July 2006 . Berried Treasure . Smithsonian Magazine .