DailyDirt: Strawberries Are Technically Not Berries

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Oct 11th 2013 5:00pm — Joyce Hung

Which of these are berries: bananas, watermelon, avocado, strawberries? Surprisingly, all of them, except strawberries. According to the botanical definition, a "berry" is a fleshy fruit that's produced from a single ovary. Strawberries are actually "accessory fruits" which consist of many small individual fruits embedded in a fleshy receptacle. The "seeds" that you see on the surface of strawberries are the actual fruits, and each of them surrounds a tiny seed. Here are some more strawberry-related links.

Japanese electronics company Sharp is working on growing strawberries in the Middle East, where it's difficult to grow them and expensive to import. The strawberries will be grown at a facility in Sharp's Middle East Free Zone Establishment in Dubai, in a controlled environment of optimal temperature, light, and humidity. These will all be precisely controlled using Sharp technology, such as LED lighting and "Plasmacluster" air-purification technology. [url]
There are more than 600 varieties of strawberries in the world, but only 3 types: June-bearing, everbearing, and day-neutral. Some of the most popular varieties grown in the U.S. include Honeoye, Allstar, Chandler, Jewel, Seascape, Tristar, and Earliglow, which is considered to be one of the best tasting strawberry varieties out there. [url]
A new wild strawberry species was recently discovered in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. It grows at elevations of 3,000-5,000 feet. Unlike other local wild strawberries, which have only 8 sets of chromosomes, this new strawberry (Fragaria cascadensis) has 10 sets of chromosomes. [url]
Japanese researchers have developed a $50,000 strawberry-picking robot that can pluck a strawberry every 8 seconds. The robot uses a 3D stereo camera system to determine which berries are ripe based on color, and when it finds a ripe one, it extends its arm, snips the stem, and then places the berry in the basket. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: farming, food, fruit, robots, species, strawberries

9 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

The First Word

“

Koala Bears

Are not really bears either !!! what's this world coming too!

—Anonymous Coward

”

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

silverscarcat (profile), 11 Oct 2013 @ 6:44pm

wait, what?!
You mean... I've been lied to for years?! NOOOOOO!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 11 Oct 2013 @ 7:18pm

Koala Bears
Are not really bears either !!! what's this world coming too!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous, 12 Oct 2013 @ 4:59pm
  
  Re: Koala Bears
  Betcha panda bears ain't bears either.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 15 Oct 2013 @ 6:23pm
  
  Re: Koala Bears
  Solar panel engineers are really not engineers either.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Oct 2013 @ 4:47am

and killer whales aren't whales and peanuts aren't nuts
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous, 12 Oct 2013 @ 5:00pm
  
  Re:
  Are killer whales killers? Are peanuts peas?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous, 12 Oct 2013 @ 5:02pm

They can take their "botanical definition" and suck it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Judd Sandage, 13 Oct 2013 @ 1:13am

It puts the lotion on its skin and puts it in the basket.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mike Raffety (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 10:51am

How many chromosomes?
"Unlike other local wild strawberries, which have only 8 sets of chromosomes, this new strawberry (Fragaria cascadensis) has 10 sets of chromosomes."

Will Monsanto stop at NOTHING?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]