Fragaria

{{short description|Genus of strawberry plants}} {{about|the plant genus|the most commonly cultivated strawberry|Strawberry}} {{Automatic taxobox | oldest_fossil = Miocene | image = 103 Fragaria vesca L.jpg | image_caption = ''Fragaria vesca'' illustration from ''Atlas des plantes de France'' 1891, by A. Masclef | display_parents = 3 | taxon = Fragaria | authority = L. | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 20+ species; see text }}

'''''Fragaria''''' ({{IPAc-en|f|r|ə|ˈ|ɡ|ɛər|i|.|ə}})<ref>''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995: 606–07</ref> 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.<ref name=Esau>Esau, K. 1977. ''Anatomy of seed plants''. John Wiley and Sons, New York.</ref> 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.<ref name=Esau/><ref>E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia: [http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Fragaria%20virginiana ''Fragaria virginiana''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250213200832/https://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Fragaria%20virginiana |date=2025-02-13 }}.</ref>

==Etymology== The genus name {{lang|la|{{linktext|Fragaria}}}} derives from {{lang|la|{{linktext|fragum}}}} ("strawberry") and {{lang|la|{{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''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De Vaan |first1=Michiel |title=Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004167971 |page=239}}</ref>

The semantic motivation behind the English name "strawberry" (from Old English ''strēawberie''<ref name=BierSaue11>{{Cite web |editor1-last=Bierbaumer |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Sauer |editor2-first=Hans |editor3-last=Klug |editor3-first=Helmut W. |editor4-last=Krischke |editor4-first=Ulrike |date=2011 |title=strēaw-berie |website=Dictionary of Old English Plant Names |url=http://oldenglish-plantnames.org/lemma/full_lemma/1043-str-aw-berie?fake=578900 |access-date=2025-05-27 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref>) is unclear. Various suggestions have been put forward. One is that the name derives from the old practice of gathering strawberries by stringing them on a straw or stalk. Alternatively, "straw" may refer to the long, thin runners found on members of the genus. The term is absent from the other Germanic languages, which instead use words meaning "earth berry".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fridell|first1=Staffan|last2=Svanberg|first2=Ingvar|date=2024|title=On the etymology of ''strawberry''|journal=Studia Neophilologica|volume=96|issue=2|pages=303–310|doi=10.1080/00393274.2024.2329185 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00393274.2024.2329185}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomysimple.aspx?Fragaria |title=Species records in the database (for the query: '''genus''' = ''Fragaria'') |publisher=U.S. National Plant Germplasm System |access-date=2017-08-24}}</ref> 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.<ref>Darrow, George M. ''The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology''. New York. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. [http://www.nal.usda.gov/pgdic/Strawberry/darpubs.htm online text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826020754/http://www.nal.usda.gov/pgdic/Strawberry/darpubs.htm |date=2013-08-26 }}</ref>

The oldest fossils confidently classifiable as ''Fragaria'' are from the Miocene of Poland. Fossilised ''Fragaria'' achenes are also known from the Pliocene of China.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Huang |first1=Yong-Jiang |last2=Zhu |first2=Hai |last3=Momohara |first3=Arata |last4=Jia |first4=Lin-Bo |last5=Zhou |first5=Zhe-Kun |date=March 2019 |title=Fruit fossils of Rosoideae (Rosaceae) from the late Pliocene of northwestern Yunnan, Southwest China |journal=Journal of Systematics and Evolution |language=en |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=180–189 |doi=10.1111/jse.12443 |s2cid=89751967 |issn=1674-4918|doi-access=free |bibcode=2019JSyEv..57..180H }}</ref>

===Diploid species=== [[Image:Fragaria daltoniana.jpg|thumb|''Fragaria daltoniana'', a species from the Himalayas]] [[Image:Fragaria vesca 2.jpg|thumb|Woodland strawberry (''Fragaria vesca''), a Northern Hemisphere species]] [[Image:Fragarianilgerrensis.jpg|thumb|Flower of ''Fragaria nilgerrensis'', an Asian species]] [[File:Sosnovka Bekovo 2014 Wild Strawberries.jpg|thumb|Wild strawberries (''Fragaria viridis'') from Sosnovka, Penza Oblast, Russia]] [[File:Fragaria viridis fruit - Keila.jpg|thumb|''Fragaria viridis'' fruit photographed in Keila, Estonia]]

* ''Fragaria'' × ''bifera'' Duchesne - ''F. vesca'' × ''F. viridis'' (Europe) *''Fragaria bucharica'' Losinsk. (China) *''Fragaria chinensis'' Losinsk (China) *''Fragaria daltoniana'' J.Gay (Himalayas) * ''Fragaria emeiensis'' Jia J. Lei (China) *''Fragaria gracilis'' Losinsk. (China) *''Fragaria hayatae'' Makino (Taiwan) *''Fragaria iinumae'' Makino (East Russia, Japan) *''Fragaria mandshurica'' Staudt (China) *''Fragaria nilgerrensis'' Schlecht. ex J.Gay (South and Southeast Asia) *''Fragaria nipponica'' Makino (Korea, Japan) *''Fragaria nubicola'' Lindl. ex Lacaita (Himalayas) *''Fragaria pentaphylla'' Losinsk. (China) *''Fragaria vesca'' L. - woodland strawberry (Northern Hemisphere) *''Fragaria viridis'' Duchesne (Europe, Central Asia) ===Tetraploid species===

* ''Fragaria corymbosa'' Losinsk. (northern China) * ''Fragaria'' × ''intermedia'' (Bach) Beck (Europe)

*''Fragaria moupinensis'' Cardot (China) *''Fragaria orientalis'' Losinsk. (Eastern Asia, Eastern Siberia) *''Fragaria tibetica'' Staudt & Dickoré (China)

===Pentaploid hybrids=== *''Fragaria'' × ''bringhurstii'' Staudt (coast of California)

===Hexaploid species=== *''Fragaria moschata'' Duchesne - musk strawberry (Europe)

===Octoploid species and hybrids=== *''Fragaria'' × ''ananassa'' Duchesne ex Rozier - garden strawberry, pineapple strawberry *''Fragaria chiloensis'' (L.) Mill. - beach strawberry (Western Americas) **''Fragaria chiloensis'' subsp. ''chiloensis'' forma ''chiloensis'' **''Fragaria chiloensis'' subsp. ''chiloensis'' forma ''patagonica'' (Argentina, Chile) **''Fragaria chiloensis'' subsp. ''lucida'' (E. Vilm. ex Gay) Staudt (coast of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California) **''Fragaria chiloensis'' subsp. ''pacifica'' Staudt (coast of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California) **''Fragaria chiloensis'' subsp. ''sandwicensis'' (Decne.) Staudt - ''{{okina}}ōhelo papa'' (Hawai{{okina}}i) *''Fragaria virginiana'' Mill. - Virginia strawberry (North America)

===Decaploid species and hybrids=== *''Fragaria cascadensis'' K.E. Hummer (Cascade Mountains in Oregon)<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Hummer |author-first=K.E. |date=2012 |url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=276470 |title=A new species of Fragaria (Roseaceae) from Oregon |journal=Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=9–15 |access-date=2012-06-10}}</ref> *''Fragaria iturupensis'' Staudt - Iturup strawberry (Iturup, Kuril Islands) *''Fragaria'' × ''Comarum'' hybrids *''Fragaria × vescana''

=== Polyploidy unknown ===

* ''Fragaria tayulinensis'' S.S.Ying (Taiwan)

===Uncategorized hybrids=== *'Lipstick' (''Fragaria'' × ''Comarum'' hybrid), red-flowered runnering ornamental, sparse small globular fruits. *''Fragaria vesca'' and certain other diploid species can be hybridized and produce fertile offspring (although ''Fragaria nilgerrensis'' appears less compatible).<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://journal.ashspublications.org/content/130/3/418.full.pdf |title=Interspecific Hybridization of Fragaria vesca subspecies with F. nilgerrensis, F. nubicola, F. pentaphylla, and F. viridis |first1=R.H. |last1=Bors |first2=J.A. |last2=Sullivan |date=2005 |journal=J. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. |volume=130 |issue=3 |pages=418–423|doi=10.21273/JASHS.130.3.418 |doi-access=free }}</ref> *''Fragaria moschata'' can hybridize with diploid species such as ''Fragaria viridis'' and ''Fragaria nubicola'' but producing a lower proportion of viable seeds.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/31/4/610.2 |title=Production of Interspecific Hybrids between Hexaploid Fragaria moschata and the diploid species F. nubicola and F. viridis. |first1=Robert H. |last1=Bors |first2=J. Alan |last2=Sullivan |date=August 1996 |journal=HortScience|volume=31|issue=4|pages=610|doi=10.21273/HORTSCI.31.4.610b |doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> *''Fragaria moschata'' can hybridize with ''Fragaria'' × ''ananassa''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Karp |first=David |date=July 2006 |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/berried-treasure-120534521 |title=Berried Treasure |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine }}</ref>

==Ecology== A number of species of butterflies and moths feed on strawberry plants.{{facts|date=June 2024}}

==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== {{Reflist}}

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

==External links== *[https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomysimple.aspx?Fragaria Species records in the database (for the query: '''genus''' = ''Fragaria'')] from the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System website

Category:Fragaria Category:Berries Category:Stoloniferous plants Category:Rosaceae genera Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus