I’d love to propagate these via tissue culture for local nurseries but I can’t even seem to find seeds anywhere near me. If anyone has a line on some of these I’d love to hear. I can find many similar varieties of chiloensis but not this one.
Do you have any advice for this or for identifying why certain strawberries are different? My partner and I have found small patches of small delicious white strawberries in the forest but I tried saving some seeds without any success. There's also a short route in the Cascades with a variety of strawberries that appear to be the same species but change in flavor at various patches from piney, to slightly coconut-y, to concentrated strawberry essence (hard to describe unless you eat fresh wild strawberries) All the patches are at similar elevations and orientations within about 1-2 miles, the most likely explanation I can think of is that the soil is different? I think they are Chiloensis but I plan to go back next year and look more carefully.
Finding strawberries in the woods has ruined store bought berries for my partner. Even farmers market berries are questionable because of the varieties they grow, which I understand, they have a business with different needs.
I was surprised to learn that this is different from the similar-looking Pineberry [0].
The pineberry is probably a reselection of genes from the pre-hybridized upstream chiloensis.
Essentially re-evolving similar characteristics in the child hybrid.
Although I'm guessing the pineapple flavor is new?
> Although I'm guessing the pineapple flavor is new?
No, TFA talks about the pineapple aroma of the Chilean white strawberry, as well as a comparison to the pineberry, at length.
Maybe I'm the problem but I didn't see anything in this article that communicated why the white Strawberry business should be saved. I mean I don't want the species to go extinct but I didn't get the sense that was a risk. Is it somehow better than the hybrid strawberry that came back from Europe?
Given the widespread planting of garden strawberry hybrids commercially, I'd expect they'd eventually push out the native cultivar without intentional planting.
As for dangers, looks like:
- Lack of rail connectivity
- Climate change reducing snow
- Climate change droughtBut that's back to a conservation issue which the article didn't raise at all. I agree that the species shouldn't go extinct but I don't know if I care how much it's being farmed.
As for the dangers you raised those are all real problems but none of them are specific to this plant.
Costco has had these recently as pineberries. So maybe they are at-risk in Chile but not at-risk of being cultivated elsewhere.
As for the taste, like a mix of strawberry and pineapple. Solid but not worth the added cost over strawberries.
It's not the same. Taken from the article:
> In the U.S., pineberry goes by the name “hula berry” and made waves after appearing (in plant form) in stores like Home Depot and Walmart.
> Like the garden strawberry, however, both of these fruits are a Fragaria x ananassa hybrid. They’re not the pineapple-scented fruit from Chile