![]() The wild strawberry also held a symbolic importance for many different indigenous peoples. Low growing wild Virginia Strawberry | Photo by Walter Siegmund on Wikimedia Commons The Navajo Tribe in particular considered strawberries to be an important medicinal source. The leaves, runners and roots were also used frequently in medicinal applications and treatments. The wild strawberries species of America were foraged and harvested by many Native American Nations. Wild Strawberries in Native American Cultures Large and juicy, the Garden strawberry is a hybrid that was initially bred in France in the 1700s, using a combination of the Beach and Virginia Strawberry. The American strawberry was selected as an optimal species to hybridize and create the now popular modern Garden strawberries that we enjoy today. Creating the Common Garden StrawberryĪnother major difference between the European and American strawberry species, is their cultivation histories. Like many other American plants, such as the wild grape (which infamously caused major disruption in many European vineyards), wild American strawberries were taken back to Europe for identification and study. As explorers, and soon, colonists arrived in America, the Virginia strawberry was discovered. Strawberry cultivation in Europe began in the 14th century where it is believed the wild Woodland strawberry was grown in gardens and cultivated on a small scale. Beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis) | Photo by USFWS – Pacific Region on Wikimedia Commons From The Wild, To The Garden There are a number of hybridized varieties too such as Fragaria × bringhurstii, as species cross pollinate with one another. You might stumble across this species in coastal areas of California and even Hawaii. The Beach, or Chilean, strawberry ( Fragaria chiloensis) which was one of the original species used to create the popular Garden strawberry is also endemic to the US. The Cascade strawberry ( Fragaria cascadensis) can be found in the western Cascade Mountains that trail downwards from British Columbia all the way down to Northern California. There are also a number of lesser known strawberry species and hybrid crosses that you may stumble across in certain states. The Virginia strawberry also supposedly has a sweeter flavoring, but both have a great strawberry flavor. With tougher, more wrinkled leaves, and the small yellow ‘seeds’ protruding from the flesh instead of sitting within dimples like the Virginia strawberry fruit. The European Woodland strawberry plant is a little less refined. Fruits forming on the Woodland Strawberry | Photo by xulescu_g on Wikimedia Commons Each species also propagates via long trailing runners which reach out to new patches of soil to establish new plants. Each has the familiar strawberry sweetness we would expect from the cultivated Garden strawberry ( Fragaria × ananassa). Whilst out foraging in American forests or woodland it may not be immediately obvious which strawberry species you have stumbled across.Īll wild strawberries have small white flowers, with a yellow center, and bear small, succulent, round red fruits. Fragaria virginiana fruits | Photo by Wendell Smith on Wikimedia Commons The Differences Between American and European Wild Strawberries ![]() The two most common strawberry species within the US are the Virginia Strawberry ( Fragaria virginiana) and the Woodland (European) Strawberry ( Fragaria vesca). With around 20 different species naturalized to different countries and continents. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.A real treat to discover whilst out exploring the wilderness or hiking woodland trails, wild strawberries ( Fragaria) can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.
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