Relatives
Fragaria orientalis L. - Oriental strawberry.
Taxonomic position.
Family Rosaceae Juss. genus Fragaria L.Synonyms.
Fragaria mandshurica StaudtMorphology and biology.
Perennial herbaceous plant. Stems are erect, up to 20 cm high, equal to or slightly longer than the bottom leaves assembled in a rosette. Axils of bottom leaves develop long and thin creeping shoots; however, they are often absent. The stem and the petioles of bottom leaves are covered with dense squarrose hairs. Leaves are ternate-compound, the middle leaflet is ovate-rhombic, the lateral ones are obliquely ovate, almost sessile, with 6-9 large, deeply incised dents on each side; the terminal dent is usually longer than the neighboring ones. Leaves are covered from above with short hairs, while their underside displays dense silky appressed pilosity. The inflorescence is oliganthous, corymbose, having at the base a fairly large cauline leaf consisting of 2-3 leaflets. Bracts are quite large, often foliaceous, with distinct veins, pilose. Pedicels are rather thick, covered with dense hairs deflected downwards. Flowers are large, 2.5-3 cm in diameter, usually androgynous. Petals are roundish, overlapping at the edges. Calyx is densely pilose, prostrate under fruits. Sepals are lanceolate, shorter than the petals; the outer sepals are linear-lanceolate, shorter than the inner ones. Fruits are conical or roundish, red at maturity, with sunken achenes.Entomophilous. Ornito- and zoochore. Blossoms in late May, bears fruit in July. 2n=14, 28.
Distribution.
Siberia (Trans-Baikal region, southern part of Baikal coastal area, Yakutia - regions of Aldan, Central Yakutia and Upper Lena); Far East (Amur basin, Maritime Territory); Mongolia; China (northeastern part); Korea.Ecology.
Mesophyte. Widespread in the forest and forest-steppe zones, grows in larch, birch, pine and mixed forests, on forest glades, open slopes and outskirts, less frequently on meadowlands, fire-sites, stony and rubbly hillsides.Utilization and economic value.
Food (berries) and medicinal. Fruits are consumed fresh or used to prepare jams and confectionary products. Interesting for breeders, as it is capable of enriching the diversity of strawberry cultivars. Plenty of hybrids were obtained from crossing European cultivars with Fragaria orientalis. In the Far East this species is an object of commercial collecting.References:
Areas of distribution of medicinal plants and their relatives in the USSR (Atlas). 1990. Schmidt's V.M. (ed.). Leningrad: Leningrad University Publishers, 2nd edition (revised), p.61. (in Russian).Brezhnev, D.D., Korovina, O.N. 1981. Wild relatives of cultivated plants in the flora of the USSR. Leningrad: Kolos, pp.201. (in Russian).
Poyarkova, A.I. 1941. Strawberry - Fragaria L. (Flora of the USSR.) Moscow/Leningrad: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, vol. 10, p.61. (in Russian).