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Fragaria is the name of a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s in the rose
Rose

A rose is a perennial plant flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colors....
 family, Rosaceae
Rosaceae

The Rosaceae or rose family is a large family of plants, with about 3,000-4,000 species in 100-160 genera. Traditionally it has been divided into four subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae, and Amygdaloideae....
, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
s. There are more than 20 described species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 and many hybrids and cultivar
Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s. The most common strawberries grown commercially are cultivars of the Garden strawberry
Garden Strawberry

Garden strawberries are a common variety of strawberry cultivated worldwide. Like other species of Fragaria , it belongs to the family Rosaceae. Technically it is not a fruit but a accessory fruit, meaning the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the peg at the bottom of the bowl-shaped hypanthium that holds t...
. 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.

strawberry is an accessory fruit
Accessory fruit

An accessory fruit, false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp is a fruit in which some or all of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue....
; that is, the fleshy part is derived not from the ovaries which are the "seeds" (actually achene
Achene

An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are "monocarpellate" and wikt:indehiscent . Achenes contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp, but does not adhere to it....
s) but from the peg at the bottom of the hypanthium
Hypanthium

A hypanthium is a flower structure consisting of the bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens fused together. Its presence is diagnostic of many families, including the Rosaceae, Grossulariaceae, and Fabaceae....
 that held the ovaries.






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Encyclopedia


Fragaria is the name of a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s in the rose
Rose

A rose is a perennial plant flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colors....
 family, Rosaceae
Rosaceae

The Rosaceae or rose family is a large family of plants, with about 3,000-4,000 species in 100-160 genera. Traditionally it has been divided into four subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae, and Amygdaloideae....
, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
s. There are more than 20 described species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 and many hybrids and cultivar
Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s. The most common strawberries grown commercially are cultivars of the Garden strawberry
Garden Strawberry

Garden strawberries are a common variety of strawberry cultivated worldwide. Like other species of Fragaria , it belongs to the family Rosaceae. Technically it is not a fruit but a accessory fruit, meaning the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the peg at the bottom of the bowl-shaped hypanthium that holds t...
. 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
Accessory fruit

An accessory fruit, false fruit, spurious fruit, or pseudocarp is a fruit in which some or all of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue....
; that is, the fleshy part is derived not from the ovaries which are the "seeds" (actually achene
Achene

An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are "monocarpellate" and wikt:indehiscent . Achenes contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp, but does not adhere to it....
s) but from the peg at the bottom of the hypanthium
Hypanthium

A hypanthium is a flower structure consisting of the bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens fused together. Its presence is diagnostic of many families, including the Rosaceae, Grossulariaceae, and Fabaceae....
 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 woodland strawberry, F. vesca, was the first to be cultivated, in the 17th century.

The typical cultivated strawberry comes from the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
, and is a hybrid of the North America F. virginiana and the South American F. chiloensis, developed in the early 18th century.

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
Polyploidy

Polyploidy occurs in biological cell and organisms when there are more than two Homologous Chromosomes sets of chromosomes.Polyploidy is a state different from most organisms which are normally diploid meaning they have only two sets of chromosomes - one set inherited from each parent; polyploidy may occur due to abnormal cell division....
. 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 Vesca 2
*Fragaria daltoniana
Fragaria daltoniana

Fragaria daltoniana is a species of strawberry native to the Himalayas. Its fruit has a poor flavor, and is of no commercial value.All strawberries have a base haploid count of 7 chromosomes....
  • Fragaria iinumae
    Fragaria iinumae

    Fragaria iinumae is a species of strawberry native to Japan and eastern Russia.All strawberries have a base haploid count of 7 chromosomes. Fragaria iinumae is diploid, having 2 pairs of these chromosomes for a total of 14 chromosomes....
  • Fragaria nilgerrensis
    Fragaria nilgerrensis

    Fragaria nilgerrensis is a species of strawberry native to southern and southeast Asia. Its fruit has a poor flavour, and is of no commercial value....
  • Fragaria nipponica
    Fragaria nipponica

    Fragaria nipponica is a species of strawberry native to the western side of the Japanese island of Honshu, with a variety Fragaria nipponica var....
  • Fragaria nubicola
    Fragaria nubicola

    Fragaria nubicola is a species of strawberry native to the Himalaya. It is of no commercial value.All strawberries have a base haploid count of 7 chromosomes....
  • Fragaria vesca
    Woodland Strawberry

    Fragaria vesca, commonly known as Woodland Strawberry occurs naturally throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Other names for this species include Fraises des Bois, Wild Strawberry, European Strawberry and Alpine Strawberry the latter usually in reference to the cultivated varieties such as Fragaria vesca 'Sem...
     (Woodland Strawberry)
  • Fragaria viridis
    Fragaria viridis

    Fragaria viridis is a species of strawberry native to Europe and central Asia. It has extremely small berries, with fine flavour. They have surprisingly little of the usual strawberry aroma, but a refreshing acidity, and sometimes ripen without becoming red....
  • Fragaria yezoensis
    Fragaria yezoensis

    Fragaria yezoensis is a species of strawberry native to the eastern side of the Japan island of Hokkaido, and the adjacent Kuril Islands and Sakhalin in Russia....


Tetraploid species
  • Fragaria moupinensis
    Fragaria moupinensis

    Fragaria moupinensis is a species of strawberry native to China.All strawberries have a base haploid count of 7 chromosomes. Fragaria moupinensis is tetraploid, having 4 pairs of these chromosomes for a total of 28 chromosomes....
  • Fragaria orientalis


Hexaploid species
  • Fragaria moschata
    Musk Strawberry

    The musk strawberry , is a species of fragaria native to Europe. Its French name hautbois strawberry is anglicised as hautboy strawberry....
     (Musk Strawberry)


Octoploid species and hybrids
  • Fragaria ×ananassa
    Garden Strawberry

    Garden strawberries are a common variety of strawberry cultivated worldwide. Like other species of Fragaria , it belongs to the family Rosaceae. Technically it is not a fruit but a accessory fruit, meaning the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries but from the peg at the bottom of the bowl-shaped hypanthium that holds t...
     (Garden Strawberry)
  • Fragaria chiloensis (Beach Strawberry)
  • Fragaria iturupensis
    Iturup Strawberry

    The Iturup Strawberry is a species of strawberry, endemic to Iturup in the Kuril Islands. It is noted to have relatively large berries for a wild species, similar in appearance to those of Fragaria virginiana....
     (Iturup Strawberry)
  • Fragaria virginiana
    Virginia Strawberry

    The Virginia Strawberry , is one of two species of strawberry that were Hybrid to create the modern domesticated Garden Strawberry. Its natural range is confined to North America, in the United States and Canada....
     (Virginia Strawberry)


Decaploid species and hybrids
  • Fragaria × Potentilla hybrids
    Fragaria × Potentilla hybrids

    While presently lacking formal botanical nomenclature, there are several commercially important hybrids between Fragaria and Potentilla species in existence:...
  • Fragaria ×vescana
    Fragaria × vescana

    Fragaria ? vescana is a Hybrid strawberry cultivar that was created in an effort to combine the best traits of the Garden Strawberry , which has large berries and vigorous plants, with the Woodland Strawberry , which has an exquisite flavour, but small berries....


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
Mock Strawberry

The Mock Strawberry, Potentilla indica , is also known as the Indian Strawberry. Although the foliage and fruit are quite similar, it is not in the genus Fragaria and can readily be distinguished by its yellow flowers, as opposed to the flowers of true strawberries which are white or slightly pink....
 and Barren Strawberry
Barren Strawberry

File:Potentilla sterilis.JPGBarren Strawberry is a plant in the cinquefoil genus of the rose family ....
, which both bear resemblance to Fragaria, are closely related species in the genus Potentilla
Potentilla

Potentilla is the genus of typical cinquefoils, containing about 500 species of Annual plant, Biennial plant and Perennial plant herbaceouss in the rose family Rosaceae....
. The Strawberry tree
Strawberry Tree

The Strawberry Tree is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe north to western France and Ireland....
 is an unrelated species.

Ecology

A number of species of Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
 (butterfly
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
 and moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
) feed on strawberry plants; for details see this list
List of Lepidoptera which feed on Strawberry plants

Strawberry are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species including:*Angle Shades *Brown-tail *Common Marbled Carpet ...
.

See also

  • Epigynous berry


Footnotes


External links

  • Listing of Fragaria species, from the USDA
    United States Department of Agriculture

    The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive departments responsible for developing and executing Federal government of the United States policy on farming, agriculture, and food....
     website