Strawberry

The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; Fragaria × ananassa) is a widely grown <a href="/facts/Hybrid_(biology)/pzVJ54xU">hybrid</a> plant cultivated worldwide for its <a href="/facts/Fruit/PBpuzk60">fruit</a>. The genus <a href="/facts/Fragaria/XVER45ga">Fragaria</a>, the strawberries, is in the rose family, <a href="/facts/Rosaceae/KYrlFdv6">Rosaceae</a>. The fruit is appreciated for its aroma, bright red colour, juicy texture, and sweetness. It is eaten either fresh or in prepared foods such as <a href="/facts/Fruit_preserves/TSkwzfzF">jam</a>, <a href="/facts/Ice_cream/jVhC4nwR">ice cream</a>, and <a href="/facts/Chocolate/4drs8ryf">chocolates</a>. Artificial strawberry flavourings and aromas are widely used in commercial products. Botanically, the strawberry is not a <a href="/facts/Berry_(botany)/2JfhI0vw">berry</a>, but an <a href="/facts/Aggregate_fruit/0K8eSeeT">aggregate</a> <a href="/facts/Accessory_fruit/2UjlUkdJ">accessory</a> fruit. Each apparent 'seed' on the outside of the strawberry is actually an <a href="/facts/Achene/8dm9UxMy">achene</a>, a botanical fruit with a seed inside it.
The garden strawberry was first bred in <a href="/facts/Brittany/XvquwmIg">Brittany</a>, France, in the 1750s via a cross of <a href="/facts/Virginia_strawberry/q7ICxztH">F. virginiana</a> from eastern North America and <a href="/facts/Fragaria_chiloensis/o9FNIdjD">F. chiloensis</a>, which was brought from Chile by <a href="/facts/Am%25C3%25A9d%25C3%25A9e-Fran%25C3%25A7ois_Fr%25C3%25A9zier/qxB6CuPI">Amédée-François Frézier</a> in 1714. <a href="/facts/Cultivar/nfaLJJM3">Cultivars</a> of F. × ananassa have replaced the woodland strawberry <a href="/facts/Fragaria_vesca/LerAfwKD">F. vesca</a> in commercial production. In 2023, world production of strawberries exceeded ten million tons, led by China with 40% of the total.
Strawberries have appeared in literature and art from Roman times; <a href="/facts/Virgil/K9zjwwHS">Virgil</a> wrote about the snake lurking beneath the strawberry, an image reinterpreted by later writers including <a href="/facts/William_Shakespeare/ohI96JTv">Shakespeare</a>. Strawberries appear in Italian, Flemish, and German paintings, including <a href="/facts/Hieronymus_Bosch/lVgJPch3">Hieronymus Bosch</a>'s <a href="/facts/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights/YUbPr5L2">The Garden of Earthly Delights</a>. It has been understood to symbolise the ephemerality of earthly joys or the benefit that blessed souls get from religion, or to allegorise death and resurrection. By the late 20th century, its meaning had shifted: it symbolised female sexuality.

Strawberry open-in-new

Strawberry