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Portrait of Strawberry tree

Nature · Trees

Strawberry tree

Introduced to Britain (neophyte; native to Ireland) · evergreen · flowers and fruits in autumn · gardens, cliffs

Arbutus unedo — Ericaceae

A small evergreen tree with red shredding bark, glossy leaves, white urn-shaped flowers and rough red fruit that ripen together. The BSBI treats it as native only in Ireland, where it is locally abundant in the south-west and around Lough Gill, and as a neophyte in Britain and the Channel Islands. Its native status in Ireland has been questioned as it may be an ancient introduction.

How to know it

Whole tree of Strawberry tree
Whole tree Luis Fernández García · CC BY-SA 4.0
Leaf of Strawberry tree
Leaf Daniel VILLAFRUELA . · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bark of Strawberry tree
Bark Philmarin · CC BY-SA 4.0

How to spot them

  • ▸Evergreen glossy leaves with toothed edges, dark green
  • ▸Shaggy red-brown flaking bark
  • ▸Clusters of white urn-shaped flowers in autumn, with ripe fruit from the previous year on the same tree
  • ▸Round warty red fruit like a strawberry
  • ▸Heathy, rocky, warm places; planted in gardens

How to know it

A small evergreen that bears white urn-shaped flowers and red warty fruit at the same time, because the fruit takes a year to ripen

Strawberry tree.

Native in south-west Ireland and around Lough Gill in Co. Sligo, a species of Lusitanian distribution

Strawberry tree — though its Irish nativeness has been questioned.

It is a neophyte in Britain, and has become invasive on the Great Orme in North Wales

Strawberry tree.

A member of the heather family with edible but bland fruit that gives it its common name

Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo).

Its specific epithet is traditionally explained as "I eat one"

Strawberry tree — unedo.

A tree whose leaves stay green all year and whose bark is red and flaking

Strawberry tree.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Arbutus unedo: the epithet unedo is traditionally said to mean I eat one, referring to the bland fruit
  • •It belongs to the Ericaceae, the heather family
  • •BSBI: native in Ireland only; a neophyte in Britain and the Channel Islands
  • •In Ireland it is locally abundant in West Cork and Kerry and around Lough Gill, Co. Sligo
  • •A 2021 paper in British & Irish Botany asks whether it is truly native to Ireland or was brought in ancient times, perhaps by copper miners
  • •It has become invasive at the Great Orme, Caernarvonshire
  • •Its distribution, in Ireland and around the Mediterranean but absent from Britain, is called Lusitanian
  • •Fruit takes 12 months to ripen, so flowers and fruit appear together

Drill it — 7 cards

1 / 7new card

Sources