Talk:Strawberry

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Contents

[edit] Long random word?

Someone seems to have instered random words that are long and annoying, and i can't figure out how to get rid of them. User: Anonymous 1:26, 22 February 2007

[edit] Hemispheres

"the north temperate regions of both hemispheres". Is this a usual way of expressing locality?
S,

I don't have a problem with it, although you could say "worldwide" or some such thing instead. Elakazal 15:29, 24 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Nutrition box

That "nutrition box" is way out of control. It's much too large for the article. RickK 04:34, 28 Apr 2004 (UTC)

mmmm, Strawberies are yummy. Benjaminstewart05 12:18, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Zinc & sex drive?

Zinc and sex drive. wow. i don't think eating zinc is gonna make you...rape people...get a life and stop talking about strawberries. go eat some cherries or something. word.

[edit] Interwiki links

Large cultivated strawberries and small wild ones are different words in Swedish; we see them as two different berries, really. Now what do I do with the interwiki link? It currently goes to sv:Jordgubbe, I'd like to have one to sv:Smultron too... is that possible? /Habj 22:23, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Misc

It would be nice if there was something about preserving and using strawberries. How they keep etc.

  • There was a Good Eats episode on strawberries that addressed this quite handily - Alton Browne showed how they became mushy when frozen normally (due to ice crystals forming and breaking the cell walls), however they freeze quite well if flash-frozen in dry ice.Scott Ritchie 22:00, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Strawberry image

Can the following featured picture be worked into the article somewhere? It seems silly to not use such a nice pic. Scott Ritchie 22:00, 14 August 2005 (UTC) image:FraiseFruitPhoto.jpg

[edit] Recent Edit

I like the edit that was just done moving gardening info to the Garden Strawberry page. I think nutrition belongs there, too, since that info was undoubtably derived from garden berries, and not the wild species. Any opinions? Dr U 12:11, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image layout

This image would be perfect to fill the dead space between the contents box and the first strawberry photo. I am not smart enough to get it to work. Can someone help? Dr U 21:19, 5 September 2005 (UTC) image:Strawberry flower.jpg

Working on fitting images in, though there's not a lot of room - MPF 12:35, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
Re-done the pics, moving some to Garden Strawberry where they are better placed and with more space. Added a wild species for the taxobox. - MPF 12:48, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
I organized all of the images into a gallery and added the "gallery" section. If there is any objection to that, please respond here. --Blueag9|Talk| 20:16, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Changed image in the etymology section

The previous image suggested that the Anglo-Saxons grew strawberries on straws. This is wild speculation, unless someone can provide evidence that they even cultivated strawberries.--Wiglaf 11:33, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

An earlier user had offered the practice of growing berries on straw as an origin for the name: ". . . from the common practice of placing a layer of dry straw on the ground under the developing fruit to protect them from slugs and from being splashed by mud in wet weather." The Farmer's Almanac Gardening 2005 calender supports the assertion, saying "Strawberries take their name from the custom of mulching them with straw to preserve them from rot." I am adding text to reflect this claim -- but I will omit the more specific assertions of the previous user that it protected them from mud or slugs, or was grown by Anglo-Saxons.Plaidfury 05:03, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Etymology is a subject where you find many dubious claims, especially in non-linguistic publications. The straw layer theory is very likely to be folk etymology. Since the name is of A-S origin the straw layer theory could only be realistic if there is any evidence that the A-S grew strawberries on fields, and even if they did it is not certain that the tradition of using straw layers is that old.--Wiglaf 06:51, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

I remember reading in a chemistry book at school that the 'straw' in 'strawberries' refers to similarity between the smell freshly mown hay (straw) and the smell of strawberries. Strawberries and freshly mown hay do share a chemical that is responsible for the smell, it's called coumarin. From http://www.phytochemicals.info/phytochemicals/coumarin.php : "Coumarin is found in several plants, including... strawberries.... Coumarin is responsible for the sweet smell of new mown hay." Mattcg 15:15, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Armeniapedia link

The Armeniapedia link on medicinal uses comes from a book published in Soviet Armenia in Armenian, which I paid to have translated so that the information could be online, for free. I put it on my wiki about all things Armenian. I see someone has added that the link to my site is to an "ad supported wiki). Since when do website get labelled as "ad supported" in links? It does have google ads, which perhaps recoup about 10% of the out of pocket expenses the site takes in order to generate new content and host the rather large site. It is a hobby, it is nowhere near supported by anything/anyone but me. The ads are simple google text ads, and just two per page. There are no banners, no blinking... so why the pariah like ad disclaimer? I won't remove it myself, but hope someone sees that it is just not necessary. You wouldn't qualify links to the New York Times with "oh, it has aaaads on it", so why not just let a link to a normal site with normal content be? If it doesn't deserve to be listed, remove it. If it does and the ads are not an important part of the site, why would they be mentioned??? --RaffiKojian 05:53, 29 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Strawberry Allergy

Information on strawberry allergies. --Gbleem 07:23, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

I'm not sure this page is up to standard. Some of the language is very clumsy. Can it be cleaned up?

[edit] Not a berry

It's actually true, A strawberry is not a berry. Berries are defined by having their fruit on the inside, such fruits as cucumbers, mangos, tomatos, grapes, raspberries, oranges are all berries, and yet the strawberry is not because it contains its seeds on the outside. James Random 11:49, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the "seeds" of the strawberry are the fruit. What we think of as the fruit is enlarged stem tissue. So the seeds are inside the fruit, its just that the fruit themselves are small and seedlike. Elakazal 15:29, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] seeds outside

Is it true the strawberry is the only fruit with its seed on the outside? DMTsurel 09:41, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

The red fleshy part of the strawberry is not actually the fruit. The "seeds" are the true fruit. So no, that statement would be incorrect.

[edit] Plant vs. Food

It is pathetic that this article is all about the plant with almost no info about the fruit as a food. I added links to Garden Strawberry. 69.87.201.12 00:48, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

The Garden Strawberry is the food item. Strawberry is a broader category, describing a number of plant species. Although they're all edible and mostly pretty good, only Garden Strawberry is cultivated as a food, and so I think that info is more appropriately given there. Elakazal 15:29, 24 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Size Scale

The article has no direct info about the size and weight ranges of the fruit. 69.87.201.12 00:48, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fruit Storage

What are optimum conditions for storing ripe fruit so that they last as long as possible -- in the refrigerator? 69.87.201.12 00:48, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pathogens

The pathogens section contains only A number of species of Lepidoptera feed on strawberry plants; for details see this list. I was not aware that insects were pathogens. PrometheusX303 16:11, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I changed this header to "Pests", since it seemed more appropriate. We really should get some pathogen info here, though. Elakazal 15:29, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] origin?

Isn't there a country where strawberries initialy come from? "THROUGH FIRE, JUSTICE IS SERVED!" 18:11, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Strawberry species are found all over the world. The cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa, is probably originally from France, but it was a hybrid of two species, one from the eastern U.S., the other from Chile. Elakazal 20:51, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Questionable information removed...

I removed the following 2 paragraphs from under the "history" heading, as it looks to me like part conjecture and partly just plain false:

There are two apparently unrelated kinds of "strawberry", fragaria and duchesnea seeming to have evolved convergently.
Old-world strawberries, duchesnea, are on record as having been grown for food in Europe since at least the 13th century. These are commonly known as the Indian Strawberry. It was not only eaten as food, but used medicinally, including to help aid digestion.

The first paragraph just seems odd (with the "apparently" and "seeming to have"). The second is just plain false... I'm fairly certain that Fragaria vesca was grown in the old world before the new world introductions, but not Duchesnea (which, speaking from experience, is not worth eating). --SB_Johnny|talk|books 18:33, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Fragaria and Duchesnea haven't evolved convergently, they appear to have evolved divergently. In fact, some modern taxonomists place both within the larger genus of Potentilla. Elakazal 05:18, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] history

This article says the typical modern strawberry comes from Mongolia. I dont know if thats true or not but I havent been able to confirm that information anywhere else including Wikipedias articles Garden Strawberry and Woodland Strawberry. Most articles on the internet describe it as originally widely distributed thoughout the northern hemisphere222.153.163.197 00:23, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the correction SB Mhicaoidh 11:42, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

The typical modern strawberry is Fragaria x ananassa. It is a hybrid of two species, one from the eastern U.S., the other from Chile. Elakazal 05:16, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gangs in USA

Is it true that in the USA female Blood gangsters are known as Strawberry Bloods? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.92.175.76 (talk) 21:53, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Word origin nonsense

If the strawberry is originally from the Americas, who can the word originally be of Anglo-Saxon origin? The language had long evolved into English by the time strawberries would have made it to Europe. Think about it. 64.191.211.54 (talk) 20:46, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

There are three species of strawberries native to Europe. The American species just happen to be the ancestors of the ones we cultivate now. Elakazal (talk) 06:04, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Unsourced hidden text embedded in the page

Just cut this text from the page. It is unsourced, please remember to add such comments to the talk page.—Ashleyvh (talk) 23:53, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure how any of these could be put into the article without introducing a worldview problem. Even the information about why that southern city bills itself such belongs more in the article about the city than in strawberries in general. A lot about the composition, care, feeding, and use (wine) of strawberries isn't here.

[edit] merge with garden strawberry

moved from garden strawberry discussion: Also, should this page be merged with strawberry? Are there that many cultivars of strawberries? WLU (talk) 21:24, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

i agree that it's a bit confusing to have the two articles and there is a lot of redundancy. most people who speak of strawberries probably mean the modern cultivated form that is treated in this article. i support the merger.Truetom (talk) 17:31, 25 February 2008 (UTC

I'd suggest moving Strawberry to Fragaria (per Wikipedia:Naming conventions (flora) and because there are a dozen or so species in this genus which aren't generally found in cultivation), and keeping garden strawberry (which could be split further into one article on the botanical descriptions and relationships, and the other on use, history and associations, but I'm trying to avoid making this whole thing too complicated right now). The concept here is that the Fragaria article should cover the genus as a whole and garden strawberry should cover the cultivated strawberry (analogous to Nicotiana versus Nicotiana tabacum, another genus with both cultivated and wild members). Oh, and then there are the redirects. That's almost a whole separate discussion, but for example Strawberry could redirect to garden strawberry, and wild strawberry could point to Strawberry (disambiguation). Kingdon (talk) 14:49, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
sounds good for meTruetom (talk) 19:19, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
I and one other user have made the above changes. Kingdon (talk) 04:27, 20 March 2008 (UTC)