Fragaria chiloensis

Chile strawberry ( Fragaria chiloensis )

The Chile strawberry ( Fragaria chiloensis ) is a plant of the rose family. The plant is common in several subspecies of the North and South American Pacific coast and is one of the parent species of the modern garden strawberry.

Appearance

The plant reaches a height 5-20 inches. The petiole is 2-20 cm long, the stalk of the central leaflet 1 to 10 millimeters long. The leaves are leathery. The lamina of the middle lamella is 10 to 60 millimeters long, obovate and at the outer end rounded to truncate with seven to eleven teeth, the average is rounded - obtuse. The leaves are hairy beneath hand -tight, but the upper side glabrous.

The bracteoles are unlobed. The flowers are 20-40 mm wide, as a rule, the sepals are 6-10 mm long, the petals 8 to 18 millimeters. The fruit is glabrous, the base of the flower is 10 to 20 millimeters long, the achenes 1.5 to 2 millimeters. The basic chromosome number is n = 28, the species is oktoploid.

Dissemination

The Chile - strawberry is regardless of their name along large parts of the American Pacific coast and disjoint in the South American inland spread. Its distribution area covers, firstly, from Alaska to California and from Peru via Bolivia into southern Chile and Argentina. She finds herself beyond in Hawaii and the Juan Fernández Islands. In Central America, they apparently missing. The type populated beaches and grassland at altitudes of up to 200 meters.

System

The species is the sister species of the only other American octoploid Erdbeerart, the scarlet strawberry ( Fragaria virginiana). Both species are probably evolutionarily from a common octoploid ancestor. The relationship with the only other octoploid nature, Fragaria iturupensis, is currently unclear.

The species is commonly divided into four subspecies:

• Fragaria chiloensis ssp. chiloensis (South America)
• Fragaria chiloensis ssp. lucida (North America)
• Fragaria chiloensis ssp. sandwicensis (Hawaii)
• Fragaria chiloensis ssp. pacifica (North America)

Cultural History

In addition to the scarlet strawberry the Chile strawberry is one of the two parental species, the garden strawberry ( Fragaria × ananassa ). The two species form in western North America from natural hybrid forms. The garden strawberry, however, goes back to natural crossroads in European gardens between 1714 and 1759.