Wally Stevenson, age 9, of Jackson, Tenn., for his question:
WHY DO WE CALL STRAWBERRIES BY THAT NAME?
Good tasting berries on strawberry plants seem to be strewn or scattered among the ground clinging leaves. It is for this reason, most likely, that the plant was first called the strewberry. Gradually, the name was changed to strawberry.
The strawberry plant belongs to the rose family. Short, woody stems hold leaves that grow in groups of three. The plant has short roots and small white flowers that have a most pleasant odor.
Greenish white fruit forms in place of some of the flowers and eventually the fruit turns to a rich red color when it ripens. The berries, like the flowers, also give off a pleasant fragrance. And the fruit has a delicious taste.
A strawberry differs from a true berry, such as the huckleberry. The strawberry does not have an outer skin around the seed. It has a fleshy, swollen fruit with dry yellow seeds on the outside. When the strawberry ripens, the petals of the flower fall off and all that remains is the calyx, a leafy substance shaped like a star.
Not every strawberry flower produces fruit, however. Some flowers do not have stamens. These must be planted near plants that have stamens, so that their pollen can fertilize the seeds. This type of pollination is known as cross pollination.
You will not be able to reproduce the strawberry plant with seeds. When the fruit is developing, the plant sends out slender growths called runners. These look like strings and they grow along the ground and send out roots into the soil. The roots produce new plants which grow and bear fruit.
The strawberry runners can be taken from the old plants and replanted to start new plantations.
The strawberry fruit is one of the most important small fruits grown in the Western Hemisphere.
The strawberry plant grows best in cool, moist climates and does not do very well in warm temperatures. Although they will grow in any type of soil, the plants do best in rich earth.
The strawberry can be found growing as a cultivated plant and also as a wild plant.
Originally, the strawberry was grown throughout northern Europe. Wild species were found in Russia, Chile and the United States. The first American species of strawberry was cultivated about 1835.
Today, every state in the United States and every province in Canada grows the popular strawberry plant.
The fruit of the strawberry plant is a good source of vitamin C. The berries are exceptionally well adapted to quick freezing. And lots of the fruit end up either in ice cream or jellies.