Strawberry Flowers, Forever

Did anyone remember it was the Wimbledon men's finals yesterday? I disgracefully forgot, and was reminded only as I digested an indulgent dessert of strawberries and cream before going to watch Les Bleus not exactly 'allez' across the football pitch. But I think I kind of made up for it, because for most of the time I was watching the French amble slowly toward defeat, I was thinking more about Wimbledon than about the World Cup: I was speculating about strawberries. And not because my dessert was playing havoc with my digestive tract, either.

My interest was more professional than personal. I wanted to know about the strawberry's lineage.

After a bit of research, I discovered that not only is the strawberry not a berry (eventhough tomatoes are), but a close cousin of the rose: the fragaria from the Rosaceae family, to be precise. Once the little white flowers, which look strikingly like miniature dog roses, have been pollinated, the stems develop the squisy red fruits that have become the traditional snack of summer tennis - and apparently over 27,000 kg of strawberries are eaten at Wimbledon each year!



Posted by: Erica    Source