Strawberry tree

Description

Arbutus unedo is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the flowering plant family Ericaceae native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe. The tree is well known for its fruit, which bear some resemblance to the strawberry—hence the common name "strawberry tree."However, it is not closely related to the Fragaria plant. Its presence in Ireland also lends it the moniker "Irish strawberry tree," or cain, or cane apple (from the Irish name for the tree, caithne), or sometimes "Killarney strawberry tree". The strawberry tree is the national tree of Italy because of its green leaves, its white flowers and its red berries, colors that recall the Italian flag. Arbutus unedo grows to 4–7 m (13–23 ft) tall,rarely up to 15 m (49 ft), with a trunk diameter of up to 80 cm (31 in). It grows in hardiness zones 7–10. The leaves are green and glossy on the upper side, dull on the underside, 8–10 cm (3–4 in) long and 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) broad, laurel-like and with a serrated or serrulated margin. The hermaphrodite flowers are white (yellow when desiccated), bell-shaped, 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in) in diameter, and flower from a reddish hanging panicle in autumn. They are pollinated by bees, and have a mild sweet scent. Twigs are reddish-brown and abundantly foliose, and often have small hairs. The fruit is a red berry, 0.7–2.0 cm (0.28–0.79 in) diameter, spherical in shape with a rough surface. It matures in about 12 months, in autumn, at the same time as the next flowering. It is edible; the fruit is sweet when reddish. Seeds are small, brown and angular and are often dispersed by frugivorous birds. The name unedo is attributed to Pliny the Elder, who allegedly claimed that "unum tantum edo", meaning "I eat only one". It is not known whether he meant that the fruit was so good he could eat only one, or whether he meant that the fruit was uninteresting so he ate only one.