''Fragaria'' × ''vescana'' is a hybrid strawberry

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

that was created in an effort to combine the best traits of the

garden strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated ...

(''Fragaria'' × ''ananassa''), which has large berries and vigorous plants, with the

woodland strawberry ''Fragaria vesca'', commonly called the wild strawberry, woodland strawberry, Alpine strawberry, Carpathian strawberry or European strawberry, is a Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous plant in the Rosaceae, rose family that grows naturally thro ...

(''Fragaria vesca''), which has an exquisite flavour, but small berries.

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

considers it an unplaced taxon – "names that cannot be accepted, nor can they be put into synonymy." This cross cannot take place naturally. ''Fragaria'' × ''ananassa'' has eight sets of

chromosomes A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most importa ...

whereas ''Fragaria vesca'' has only two sets. Repeated attempts to cross these resulted in

sterile Sterile or sterility may refer to: *Asepsis, a state of being free from biological contaminants * Sterile (archaeology), a sediment deposit which contains no evidence of human activity *Sterilization (microbiology), any process that eliminates or ...

offspring. Researchers treated tissue from a ''Fragaria vesca'' plant with

colchicine Colchicine is a medication used to prevent and treat gout, to treat familial Mediterranean fever and Behçet's disease, and to reduce the risk of myocardial infarction. The American College of Rheumatology recommends colchicine, nonstero ...

to create a

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

plant with four sets of chromosomes. This mutant was then crossed with a ''Fragaria'' × ''ananassa'' plant, and vigorous fertile offspring were obtained. The offspring were found to be decaploid, (having ten sets of chromosomes). ''Fragaria'' × ''vescana'' is not yet commercially important, but remains under development. While the plants are vigorous like their ''F.'' × ''ananassa'' parents, and the berries have the excellent flavour of the ''F. vesca'' parents, the berries are still quite small.

''Fragaria'' × ''vescana'' cultivars

The following decaploid strawberries were released by the Swedish breeding program at Balsgård: * 'Annelie' (1977) * 'Sara' (1988) — 'Annelie' × 'Sparkle' × ''F. vesca'' 4×) open pollinated* 'Rebecka' (1998) — ('Fern' × ''F. vesca'' 4×) × ''F.'' × ''ananassa'' F861502 German ''F.'' × ''vescana'' cultivars: * 'Spadeka' (1977) * 'Florika' (1989) — ('Sparkle' × ''F. vesca'' 'Semperflorens' 4x) × 'Klettererdbeere Hummi'

References

Bauer, A. 1993. Progress in breeding decaploid ''Fragaria'' × ''vescana''. ''Acta Hort''. (ISHS) 348: 60-64
vescana Berries Hybrid fruit {{rosoideae-stub