ARBUTUS UNEDO

Family and Genus:- See- ERICACEAE

Common Names:- Strawberry tree.

homotypic Synonyms:- Arbutus serratifolia, Arbutus unedo var. serratifolia.

Meaning:- Arbutus (L) Ancient Latin arbutus or Celtic arboise for a rough fruit.

Unedo (L) Latin for the Arbutus tree and its fruit, meaning "I eat one"

General description:- Usually a bushy shrub 1·5-3 m, occasionally a small tree

up to 12 m.

Bark:-

1) Fissured, peeling off in small flakes, mostly dull brown; young twigs glandular-

setose, at least in part.

Leaves:-

1) 4-11 x 1·5-4 cm, oblong-lanceolate, usually 2-3 times as long as wide, margins

serrate to subentire, glabrous except at the extreme base; petiole 10 mm or

less.

Flowers:-

1) Panicle, 4-5 cm, drooping, appearing in autumn.

2) Calyx, 1·5 mm, with suborbicular lobes.

3) Corolla, c. 9 x 7 mm, white, often tinged with green or pink. Honey-scented.

Fruit:-

1) Berry c. 20 mm, covered with papillae, ripening through yellow and scarlet to

deep crimson.

Key features:-

1) Young twigs, glandular-setose, at least in part.

2) Flowers, produced in autumn.

3) Berry, covered with conical papillae.

Habitat:- In similar habitas as A. andrachne and sometimes together with it. 0-1100

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, but rare in the interior N, - Mediterranean area

locally extending to W Ireland in the north and Lebanon in the East. Limited

distribution on Crete confined to the west of the island.

Flowering time:- (Oct-)Nov-Mar, often with ripe fruits from the previous year.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis