FRUIT lovers, here is a treat of some fun facts for you about everyone’s favourite summer fruit – strawberries:
- They are widely grown hybrid species of the genus Fragaria, collectively known as strawberries. It is cultivated worldwide.
- They were introduced to South Africa in 1656.
- They are the only fruit that wear their seeds on the outside. The average berry is adorned with some 200 of them. No wonder it only takes one bite to get seeds stuck in your teeth.
- They aren’t true berries, like blueberries or even grapes. Technically, a berry has its seeds on the inside. Each seed on a strawberry is considered by botanists to be its own separate fruit.
- They are members of the rose family.
- The strawberry plant is a perennial. This means if you plant one now, it will come back next year and the following and the year after that. It may not bear fruit immediately, but once it does, it will remain productive for about five years.