Fragaria vesca, commonly called thewild strawberry,woodland strawberry,Alpine strawberry,Carpathian strawberry orEuropean strawberry, is aperennialherbaceous plant in therose family that grows naturally throughout much of theNorthern Hemisphere, and that produces edible fruits.[2][3]
The Latinspecific epithetvesca literally means "thin" or "feeble",[4] but likely carries the sense "edible" in this context (comparevescor, "to eat").[5]
Five to eleven soft, hairy white flowers are borne on a green, soft fresh-hairy 3–15 centimetres (1–6 in) stalk that usually lifts them above the leaves. The light-green leaves are trifoliate (in threes) with toothed margins. The plant spreads mostly by means of runners (stolons), but the seeds are viable and establish new populations.[6][7][8]
Its fruitpersists for an average of 1.2 days, which is possibly the shortest persistence of any fleshy fruit in Europe. It bears an average of 46.8 seeds per fruit, which is possibly the highest per fruit of any in Europe. Fruits average 84.0% water, and theirdry weight includes 21.0%carbohydrates and 5.5%lipids, one of the higher lipid values among European fleshy fruits.[9]
Vilmorin-Andrieux (1885) makes a distinction between wild or wood strawberries (Fragaria vesca) and alpine strawberries (Fragaria alpina),[10] a distinction which is not made by most seed companies or nurseries, which usually sellFragaria vesca as "alpine strawberry".
Under wild or wood strawberry, Vilmorin says:
It has seldom been seen in gardens since the introduction of the Red Alpine Strawberry. ... Wood Strawberry possesses a quite particular perfume and delicacy of flavour. 2,500 seeds to the gramme.
Under alpine strawberry, Vilmorin says:
A very different plant to the Wood Strawberry, and distinguished by the greater size of all its parts — the fruit in particular — and especially by the property (which is particular to it) of producing flowers and fruit continuously all through the summer. ... The fruit has nearly the same appearance and flavour as that of the Wood Strawberry, but is generally larger, longer, and more pointed in shape. The seed is also perceptibly larger and longer. A gramme contains only about 1,500 seeds.
Fragaria vesca, fruiting plantWild strawberry in Estonia,Pakri Peninsula
Typical habitat is alongtrails and roadsides, embankments, hillsides, stone- and gravel-laid paths and roads, meadows, young woodlands, sparse forest, woodland edges, andclearings. Often plants can be found where they do not get sufficient light to form fruit. In the southern part of its range, it can grow only in shady areas; further north it tolerates more sun.[11] It is tolerant of a variety of moisture levels (except very wet or dry conditions).[11] It can survive mild fires and/or establish itself after fires.[11]
AlthoughF. vesca primarily propagates viarunners, viable seeds are also found insoil seed banks and seem to germinate when the soil is disturbed (away from existing populations ofF. vesca).[11]
Its leaves serve as significant food source for a variety ofungulates, such asmule deer andelk, and the fruit are eaten by a variety of mammals and birds that also help to distribute the seeds in their droppings.[11]
The wild strawberry is used as an indicator plant for diseases that affect the garden strawberry. It is also used as a geneticmodel plant for garden strawberry and the family Rosaceae in general, due to its:
very small genome size
short reproductive cycle (14–15 weeks in climate-controlled greenhouses)
ease of propagation.
The genome ofF. vesca was sequenced in 2010,[13] and with greater detail and accuracy in 2017 by the KnappUC Davis program.[14]
All strawberry (Fragaria) species have a basehaploid count of sevenchromosomes;Fragaria vesca isdiploid, having two pairs of these chromosomes for a total of 14.
Wild strawberry fruits collected in the forest in the Middle Urals
Evidence from archaeological excavations suggests thatFragaria vesca has been consumed by humans since theStone Age.[15]
Woodland strawberry fruit is strongly flavored, and is still collected and grown for domestic use and on a small scale commercially for the use ofgourmets and as an ingredient for commercial jam, sauces, liqueurs, cosmetics and alternative medicine. In Turkey, hundreds of tons of wild fruit are harvested annually, mainly for export.[16]
Most of the cultivated varieties have a long flowering period (and have been considered by botanists as belonging toFragaria vesca subsp.vesca 'Semperflorens'). They are usually calledalpine strawberries. They either form runners or multiple crowns in a cluster, fruit over a very long period with larger fruit than the common wood strawberry, and are usually propagated by seeds or division of the plants. The type in cultivation is usually everbearing and produces fewrunners. Plants tend to lose vigour after a few years due to their abundant fruiting and flowering with final decline caused by viral diseases.[17] Large-fruiting forms are known since the 18th century and were called "Fressant" in France.[18] Some cultivars have fruit that are white or yellow when fully ripe, instead of the normal red.
Cultivars that formstolons are often used asgroundcover, while cultivars that do not may be used as border plants. Some cultivars are bred for their ornamental value. Hybrids,Fragaria ×vescana, have been created from crosses between woodland strawberry and garden strawberry. Hybrids between the woodland strawberry and the European speciesFragaria viridis were in cultivation until around 1850, but are now lost.[19]
Alpine strawberry has an undeserved reputation among home gardeners as hard to grow from seed, often with rumors of long and sporadic germination times, cold pre-chilling requirements, etc.[citation needed] In reality, with proper handling of the very small seeds (which can easily be washed away with rough watering), 80% germination rates at 70 °F (21 °C) in 1–2 weeks are easily achievable.[citation needed]
Rügen, the first modern cultivar,i.e., runnerless, everbearing and large fruited — originating from Castle Putbus in Germany, first offered 1920 by the strawberry grower Emil Spangenberg from Morsleben.
Alexandria, first offered 1964 by George W. Park Seed Co., USA
Baron Solemacher, first offered 1935 by F. C. Heinemann, Germany
Weisse Solemacher (white fruited) first offered by F. C. Heinemann
Golden Alexandria (golden foliage).
Cultivars
Forms with runners are still found in old gardens.
Quarantaine de Prin, France; commercially important before World War I, but now almost extinct; maybe identical to the varietyErigée de Poitou which was still offered around 1960.
Blanc Amélioré, Great Britain; white-fruited; it is doubtful if the clone in circulation today is identical to the historical variety from around 1900 because of its non-everbearing habit; nevertheless a good variety with rather large, sometimes monstrous fruit of the Fressant type.
Illa Martin, Germany; sold as an ornamental, white-fruited. Red achenes have been reported but have not been found. Most plants in circulation not true to name.
Gartenfreude, Germany; large-fruited form, sometimes very large monstrous fruit of the Fressant type.
Curious mutations have arisen and are sometimes grown byplantsmen and other connoisseurs of the unusual:
Monophylla (“Strawberry of Versailles”; has one large leaflet instead of the normal three leaflets)[24] - Vilmorin-Andrieux (1885) stated as being raised by Duchesne.[10]
Multiplex (double flowered; sets less and smaller fruit)
Muricata (“Plymouth strawberry”; the flowers are composed of numerous small, leafy bracts; the fruit are similarly spiky).
^Klinkenberg, Brian, ed. (2014)."Fragaria vesca".E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Archived fromthe original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved16 June 2015.
^Giblin, David, ed. (2015)."Fragaria vesca".WTU Herbarium Image Collection. Burke Museum, University of Washington. Retrieved16 June 2015.
^"Fragaria vesca".Jepson eFlora: Taxon page. Jepson Herbarium; University of California, Berkeley. 2015. Retrieved16 June 2015.
^abcdeMunger, Gregory T. (2006)."Fragaria vesca".Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Retrieved6 August 2008.
^The Xerces Society (2016),Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
^Staudt, Günter (2003),Les dessins d'A. N. Duchesne pour son Histoire naturelle des fraisiers, Paris: Muséum Nat. d'histoire Naturelle
^Staudt, Günter; Dimeglio, Laura M.; Davis, Thomas M.; Gerstberger, Pedro (December 2003), "Fragaria × bifera Duch.: Origin and taxonomy",Botanische Jahrbücher,125 (1):53–72,doi:10.1127/0006-8152/2003/0125-0053
^Vrhovsek, Urska; Guella, Graziano; Gasperotti, Mattia; Pojer, Elisa; Zancato, Mirella; Mattivi, Fulvio (2012), "Clarifying the Identity of the Main Ellagitannin in the Fruit of the Strawberry, Fragaria vesca and Fragaria ananassa Duch.",J. Agric. Food Chem.,60 (10):2507–2516,Bibcode:2012JAFC...60.2507V,doi:10.1021/jf2052256,PMID22339338
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