Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: Worldwide
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Runners
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Uncommon

About

The cultivated garden strawberry is a hybrid first bred in 1750s Brittany by crossing a North American Fragaria virginiana with a Chilean Fragaria chiloensis. The familiar 'seeds' on its surface are actually the true fruits — tiny achenes — each containing a single seed, while the red flesh is a swollen flower base.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Fragaria