Arbutus unedo

Arbutus unedo Strawberry Tree
Strawberry tree leaves and fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Arbutus
Species:	A. unedo
Binomial name
Arbutus unedo L.
Synonyms[citation needed]
Unedo edulis Hoffmanns. Arbutus vulgaris Bubani

Arbutus unedo, commonly called Strawberry Tree, Apple of Cain, or Cane Apple,^[1] is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe north to western France and Ireland. Due to its presence in South West Ireland, it is known as either an Irish strawberry tree, or a Killarney strawberry tree.

Taxonomy

Arbutus unedo was one of the many species described by Carl Linnaeus in Volume One of his landmark 1753 work Species Plantarum, giving it the name it still bears today.^[2]

A study published in 2001 which analyzed ribosomal DNA from Arbutus and related genera found Arbutus to be paraphyletic, and A. unedo to be closely related to the other Mediterranean Basin species such as A. andrachne and A. canariensis and not to the western North American members of the genus.^[3]

Arbutus unedo and A. andrachne hybridise naturally where their ranges overlap; the hybrid has been named Arbutus × andrachnoides (syn. A. × hybrida, or A. andrachne × unedo), inheriting traits of both parent species, though fruits are not usually borne freely, and as a hybrid is unlikely to breed true from seed.

Description

2-coloured fruits + flowers

flowers

Arbutus unedo, grows to 5-10 m tall, rarely up to 15 m, with a trunk diameter of up to 80 cm. Zone: 7-10

The leaves are dark green and glossy, 5-10 cm (2-4 in) long and 2-3 cm (0.8-1.2 in) broad, with a serrated margin.

The hermaphrodite flowers are white (rarely pale pink), bell-shaped, 4-6 mm diameter, produced panicles of 10-30 together in autumn. They are pollinated by bees.

The fruit is a red berry, 1-2 cm diameter, with a rough surface, maturing 12 months at the same time as the next flowering. The fruit is edible, though many people find it bland and mealy; the name 'unedo' is explained by Pliny the Elder as being derived from unum edo "I eat one",^[4] which may seem an apt response to the flavour.

Distribution and habitat

Arbutus unedo is widespread in the Mediterranean region, western France, western Ireland, and southern Portugal.

Its disjunct distribution, with an isolated relict population in southwestern Ireland, notably in Killarney, is a remnant of former broader distribution during the milder climate of the Atlantic period, the warmest and moistest Blytt-Sernander period, when the climate was generally warmer than today. The red-flowered variant, named A. unedo rubra by William Aiton in 1785, was discovered growing wild in Ireland in 1835.

Cultivation and uses

Unlike most of the Ericaceae, Arbutus unedo grows well in limy soils. It is best planted in a sheltered position due to its late flowering habit (see first paragraph). When grown as a tree rather than a multi-stemmed shrub, it is important to select one stem that becomes the main trunk, keeping any other basal sprouts pruned off. It prefers well-drained soil and only moderate amounts of water.

Arbutus unedo is naturally adapted to dry summers, though also growing well in the cool, wet summers of western Ireland. It is therefore useful for planting in areas with a dry-summer climate, and has become a very popular garden specimen in California and the rest of the west coast of North America. It is hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 8 to 10. Pests include Scales and Thrips, and diseases include anthracnose, Phytophthora, root rot, and rust.

The fruit mainly serve as food for birds but in some countries they are used to make jam and liqueurs (such as the Portuguese medronho, a kind of strong brandy).

Arbutus unedo: habit

• Arbutus andrachnoides is a hybrid between A. unedo and A. andrachne which is cultivated for its attractive peeling bark.^[5]

Garden history

Its Mediterranean habitat, elegant details of leaf and habit and dramatic show of fruit with flowers made Arbutus unedo notable in Classical Antiquity, when Pliny thought it should not be planted where bees are kept, for the bitterness it imparts to honey, but the first signs of its importation into northern European gardens was to England from 16th-century Ireland rather than from the Mediterranean basin; in 1586 a correspondent in Ireland sent plants to the Elizabethan courtiers Lord Leicester and Sir Francis Walsingham.^[6] An earlier description by Rev. William Turner (The Names of Herbes, 1548) was probably based on hearsay. The Irish association of Arbutus in English gardens is reflected in the inventory taken in 1649 of Henrietta Maria's Wimbledon: "one very fayre tree, called the Irish arbutis standing in the midle parte of the sayd kitchin garden, very lovely to look upon"^[6] By the 18th century Arbutus unedo was well known enough in English gardens for Batty Langley to make the bold and impractical suggestion that it might be used for hedges, though it "will not admit of being clipped as other evergreens are."^[6]

In the American colonies, Thomas Jefferson lists it at Monticello, 1778.^[7]

Symbolic use

Central panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, which was first described by José de Sigüenza as "The Picture of the Strawberry Tree".

The Garden of Earthly Delights, a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, was originally listed by José de Sigüenza, in the inventory of the Spanish Crown as La Pintura del Madrono - "The Painting of the Strawberry Tree".^[8]

The tree makes up part of the coat of arms (El oso y el madroño, The Bear and the Strawberry Tree) of the city of Madrid, Spain. In the center of the city (Puerta del Sol) there is a statue of a bear eating the fruit of the Madroño tree. The image appears on city crests, taxi cabs, man-hole covers, and other city infrastructure. The fruit of the Madroño tree ferments on the tree if left to ripen, so some of the bears become drunk from eating the fruits.^{[citation needed]}

A bear and a madroño (strawberry tree) are the symbol of Madrid.

The tree is mentioned by Roman poet Ovid, in Book I: 89-112 "The Golden Age" of his Metamorphoses:

Notes

External links

• House Shadow Drake's page about uses of this tree in Welsh and Irish witchcraft

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