Fragaria × bringhurstii facts for kids

Fragaria × bringhurstii is a special type of wild strawberry. You can find it growing naturally along the West Coast of the United States. This unique plant is a natural hybrid. This means it formed when two different wild strawberry species crossed paths and mixed their genes.

Discovering This Wild Strawberry

This particular strawberry is a mix of two other wild strawberries. They are called Fragaria vesca and Fragaria chiloensis. These two parent plants grow in the same areas. Their natural ranges overlap, allowing them to cross-pollinate and create this new hybrid.

Its Unique Chromosomes

All strawberries have a basic set of 7 chromosomes. Chromosomes are like tiny packages of instructions inside every living cell. They tell the plant how to grow and what it will be like.

Fragaria × bringhurstii is quite special. It has 5 sets of these chromosomes. This means it has a total of 35 chromosomes (5 times 7). It gets 7 chromosomes from its F. vesca parent. It gets the other 28 chromosomes from its F. chiloensis parent.

How It Reproduces

Because Fragaria × bringhurstii has an unusual number of chromosomes, it has limited fertility. This means it's hard for it to make seeds that can grow into new plants. This happens because its chromosomes have trouble pairing up correctly when it tries to reproduce.

However, these plants are very good at reproducing in another way. They easily grow new plants using "runners." Runners are like long stems that grow along the ground. New plants can sprout from these runners, creating many more Fragaria × bringhurstii plants without needing seeds.