Arbutus andrachne

Last updated

Greek Strawberry tree
Ericaceae - Arbutus andrachne.JPG
Tree of Arbutus andrachne at Orto Botanico dell'Università di Genova
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Arbutus
Species:
A. andrachne
Binomial name
Arbutus andrachne
Synonyms [2]
  • Andrachne frutescensEhret
  • Arbutus idaeaGand.
  • Arbutus integrifoliaLam.
  • Arbutus integrifoliaSieber ex Klotzsch
  • Arbutus lucidaSteud.
  • Arbutus serratifoliaLodd.
  • Arbutus sieberiKlotzsch

Arbutus andrachne, commonly called the Greek strawberry tree, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East.

Contents

The etymology of the species name corresponds to the Ancient Greek word ἀνδράχνη (andrákhnē), meaning "wild strawberry", [3] [4] and refers to the common name of the tree and to its fruits.

Description

Arbutus andrachne can reach a height of about 12 metres. The smooth bark is exfoliating during the summer, leaving a layer with a pistachio green colour, which changes gradually to a beautiful orange brown. The flowers bloom in spring and are white or yellowish green. Its fruits ripen in autumn, and when left to dry in a cool place, are eaten as sweet, chewy candy.

According to a research study done by Alzoubi, the A. andrachne fruit's antioxidants contain a variety of chemicals that have a defensive effect against memory impairment where the antioxidants normalize the long- and short-term memory impairment caused from sleep deprivation. [5] [6]

Horticulture

Hybrids

Garden history

Arbutus andrachne was reported by Peter Collinson as having flowered first in England in Dr John Fothergill's extensive botanical garden and greenhouses at Upton House, Essex (now West Ham Park), in 1765. [10]

In literature

"On leaving Bursa ... There was on the road a small tree bearing a fruit somewhat bigger than our largest cherries, and of the shape and taste of strawberries, but a little acid. It is pleasant to eat; but, if a great quantity be eaten, it mounts to the head, and intoxicates. It is ripe in November and December." Editor's footnote: "From the description, it seems to be the arbutus Andrachne." [11] The tree appears to exist in Dibbeen Forest Reserve in Jordan with its distinctive reddish bark that appears more red during and immediately after rain. Locals confirm that the fruits have narcotic-like effect.[ citation needed ] The fruits are reddish and sweet but taste more like figs.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berry</span> In the culinary sense, small edible fruit

A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the culinary sense are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, red currants, white currants and blackcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a horticultural term for such fruits.

<i>Prunus</i> Genus of trees and shrubs

Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds.

<i>Morus</i> (plant) Genus of plants

Morus, a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinate taxa, three of which are well-known and are ostensibly named for the fruit color of the best-known cultivar: white, red, and black mulberry, with numerous cultivars and some taxa currently unchecked and awaiting taxonomic scrutiny. M. alba is native to South Asia, but is widely distributed across Europe, Southern Africa, South America, and North America. M. alba is also the species most preferred by the silkworm, and is regarded as an invasive species in Brazil and the United States.

<i>Quercus suber</i> Species of plant

Quercus suber, commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores of cricket balls. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. In the Mediterranean basin the tree is an ancient species with fossil remnants dating back to the Tertiary period.

<i>Arbutus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the heather family Ericaceae

Arbutus is a genus of 12 accepted species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands and North America known as madrones. The name Arbutus was taken from Latin, where it referred to Arbutus unedo.

<i>Capsicum annuum <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> glabriusculum</i>

Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum is a variety of Capsicum annuum that is native to southern North America and northern South America. Common names include chiltepín, Indian pepper, chiltepe, and chile tepín, as well as turkey, bird’s eye, or simply bird peppers, due to their consumption and spread by wild birds, "unlike humans birds are impervious to the heat of peppers". Tepín is derived from a Nahuatl word meaning "flea". This variety is the most likely progenitor of the domesticated C. annuum var. annuum. Another similar-sized pepper, 'Pequin' is often confused with tepin, although the tepin fruit is round to oval where as the pequin's fruit is oval with a point, and the leaves, stems and plant structures are very different on each plant.

<i>Arbutus unedo</i> Species of flowering plant in the heather family Ericaceae

Arbutus unedo is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Western Europe. The tree is well known for its fruits, the arbutus berry, which bear some resemblance to the strawberry, hence the common name strawberry tree. However, it is not closely related to true strawberries of the genus Fragaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juglone</span> Chemical produced by walnut trees

Juglone, also called 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthalenedione (IUPAC) is an organic compound with the molecular formula C10H6O3. In the food industry, juglone is also known as C.I. Natural Brown 7 and C.I. 75500. It is insoluble in benzene but soluble in dioxane, from which it crystallizes as yellow needles. It is an isomer of lawsone, which is the active dye compound in the henna leaf.

<i>Psidium cattleyanum</i> Species of tree

Psidium cattleyanum , commonly known as Cattley guava, strawberry guava or cherry guava, is a small tree in the Myrtaceae (myrtle) family. The species is named in honour of English horticulturist William Cattley. Its genus name Psidium comes from the Latin psidion, or "armlet." The red-fruited variety, P. cattleyanum var. cattleyanum, is commonly known as purple guava, red cattley guava, red strawberry guava and red cherry guava. The yellow-fruited variety, P. cattleyanum var. littorale is variously known as yellow cattley guava, yellow strawberry guava, yellow cherry guava, lemon guava and in Hawaii as waiawī. Although P. cattleyanum has select economic uses, it is considered the most invasive plant in Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berry (botany)</span> Botanical fruit with fleshy pericarp, containing one or many seeds

In botany, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone (pit) produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants (aubergines) and bananas, but exclude certain fruits that meet the culinary definition of berries, such as strawberries and raspberries. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into a potentially edible "pericarp". Berries may be formed from one or more carpels from the same flower. The seeds are usually embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary, but there are some non-fleshy exceptions, such as Capsicum species, with air rather than pulp around their seeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naples Dioscurides</span> 7th-century illuminated manuscript Greek herbal

The Naples Dioscurides, in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples, is an early 7th-century secular illuminated manuscript Greek herbal. The book has 172 folios and a page size of 29.7 x 14 cm and the text is a redaction of De Materia Medica by the 1st century Greek military physician Dioscorides, with descriptions of plants and their medicinal uses. Unlike De Materia Medica, the text is arranged alphabetically by plant.

<i>Trametes versicolor</i> Species of mushroom

Trametes versicolor – also known as Coriolus versicolor and Polyporus versicolor – is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. Meaning 'of several colors', versicolor reliably describes this fungus that displays a variety of colors. For example, because its shape and multiple colors are similar to those of a wild turkey, T. versicolor is commonly called turkey tail. A similar looking mushroom, commonly called false turkey tail, which is from a different order, may sometimes be confused with the turkey tail mushroom due to appearance. Another lookalike is the multicolor gill polypore.

<i>Adenium obesum</i> Species of plant

Adenium obesum is a poisonous species of flowering plant belonging to the tribe Nerieae of the subfamily Apocynoideae of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. It is native to the Sahel regions south of the Sahara, tropical and subtropical eastern and southern Africa and also the Arabian Peninsula. Common names include Sabi star, kudu, mock azalea, impala lily and desert rose. Adenium obesum is a popular houseplant and bonsai in temperate regions.

<i>Arbutus canariensis</i> Species of flowering plants in the heather family Ericaceae

Arbutus canariensis, known in Spanish as madroño canario, is a species of shrub or tree in the heath family. It is endemic to the Canary Islands of Spain, specifically Tenerife, La Gomera, Gran Canaria, El Hierro, and La Palma. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Strawberry tree is a common name for:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walnut</span> Nut of any tree of the genus Juglans

A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus Juglans, particularly the Persian or English walnut, Juglans regia. The fruits of trees in the family Juglandaceae are often confused with drupes. Still, they are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an involucre and thus not morphologically part of the carpel; this means it cannot be a drupe but is instead a drupe-like nut.

<i>Combretum apiculatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Combretum apiculatum is a species of tree in the family Combretaceae known by the common name red bushwillow. It is native to the mesic to semi-arid savanna regions of Africa, southwards of the equator.

<i>Morchella disparilis</i> Species of fungus

Morchella disparilis is an Ascomycete fungus in the family Morchellaceae. Described as new to science in 2016, M. disparilis appears to be confined to the Mediterranean basin and is so far known from Cyprus, Greece and Spain. Its most striking feature is the exceptionally deep sinus, intermediate in depth between half-free morels of the Morchella semilibera clade and typical Distantes species.

<i>Arbutus <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> andrachnoides</i> Hybrid of flowering plants in the heather family Ericaceae

Arbutus × andrachnoides, the hybrid strawberry-tree, is the result of a cross between Arbutus andrachne and Arbutus unedo. It is a naturally occurring hybrid, but hybrid cultivars have also been created. It has gained the RHS's Award of Garden Merit.

Pumpkin flour, also known as pumpkin fruit flour is a type of flour made from dried pumpkin flesh, excluding the stem, and leaves, made with or without the rind and seeds included. Pumpkin products have drawn some commercial and research interest partly due to the low cost of pumpkin production. Additionally, pumpkin flour is a gluten-free flour which makes it suitable for people with coeliac disease, and it has been used in blends with other gluten-free flours to make baked goods. It has also been recognized as a potential additive to conventional wheat flour for producing composite flour with increased fiber, as well as being potentially useful as a natural form of food coloring for baked goods. Sun-dried pumpkin flour has a shelf-life of about 11.5 months.

References

  1.  Species was first described and published in Systema Naturae , ed. 10. 2: 1024. 1759. "Plant Name Details for Arbutus andrachne". IPNI . Retrieved August 5, 2010. in monte Pentelico Atticae
  2. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species" . Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  3. Bailly, Anatole (1981-01-01). Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français. Paris: Hachette. ISBN   978-2010035289. OCLC   461974285.
  4. Bailly, Anatole. "Greek-french dictionary online". www.tabularium.be. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  5. Alzoubi, Karem H.; Malkawi, Bayan S.; Khabour, Omar F.; El-Elimat, Tamam; Alali, Feras Q. (2017-01-18). "Arbutus andrachne L. Reverses Sleep Deprivation-Induced Memory Impairments in Rats". Molecular Neurobiology. 55 (2): 1150–1156. doi:10.1007/s12035-017-0387-8. PMID   28101814. S2CID   3425930.
  6. Bertsouklis, Konstantinos F.; Daskalakis, Ioannis; Biniari, Katerina; Papafotiou, Maria (2021-02-15). "Comparative study of polyphenolic content and antioxidant capacity in fruits of Arbutus unedo, A. andrachne and their natural hybrid A.× andrachnoides". Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca. 49 (1): 12165. doi: 10.15835/nbha49112165 . ISSN   1842-4309. S2CID   233932055.
  7. 1 2 3 Filippi, Olivier (2007). Pour un jardin sans arrosage (For a garden without irrigation) (in French). Arles: Actes Sud. p. 80. ISBN   978-2-7427-6730-4.
  8. Bertsouklis, Konstantinos Fotios; Papafotiou, Maria (2016-12-14). "Morphometric and Molecular Analysis of the Three Arbutus Species of Greece". Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca. 44 (2): 423–430. doi: 10.15835/nbha44210572 . ISSN   1842-4309.
  9. Ducatillon, Catherine; Bellanger, Richard; Charron, Tristan; Chevallier, Joelle; Heinz, Christine; Marchal, Cecilia; Mellerin, Yannick; Caraglio, Yves; Ameglio, Thierry (2018), "Study of the adaptability of trees to drought:phenological monitoring of assisted growth sensors, in the Botanical Garden of Villa Thuret", Proceedings of the EuroGard VII Congress, EUROGARD, vol. VII, pp. 322–331, retrieved 2020-03-23
  10. Ann Leighton, American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century: 'For Use or Delight' , 1976:395; Leighton misidentifies it with Arbutus unedo; Georg Dionysius Ehret, "A description of the Andrachne" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society57 (1767)
  11. Thomas Wright, ed. (1848). "The travels of Bertrandon de la Brocquière". Early Travels in Palestine, comprising the narratives of Arculf, Willibald, Bernard, Saewulf, Sigurd, Benjamin of Tudela, de la Brocquière, Sir John Maundeville and Maundrel. p. 333.