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A morphometric comparison was done in the greenhouse of 220 genotypes representing all the American taxa of octoploid strawberries. Only two groups of Fragaria virginiana Miller (Staudt) and Fragaria chiloensis (L.) Miller were well separated in both principle component and cluster analyses: a group composed primarily of F. chiloensis subspecies plus some F. virginiana ssp. glauca (Wats.) Staudt and F. virginiana ssp. platypetala (Rydberg) Staudt and another group composed primarily of F. virginiana ssp. virginiana Duchesne; and F. virginiana ssp. grayana (E. Vilmorin ex Gay) with some F. virginiana ssp. glauca and F. virginiana ssp. platypetala. Among the individual traits examined, only hair orientation reliably distinguished F. chiloensis ssp. lucida (E. Vilmorin ex Gay) from F. chiloensis ssp. pacifica Staudt, and F. virginiana ssp. grayana from F. virginiana ssp. virginiana. Little separation was observed between North and South American F. chiloensis in our principle component and cluster analyses, although these groups did show significant individual discontinuities for a number of traits. Individuals representing the cultivated race of F. chiloensis were in a relatively tight cluster within the scatter of native F. chiloensis. Taken together, these data indicate that F. virginiana and F. chiloensis may be extreme forms of the same biological species and that many of the subspecies designations currently employed in F. virginiana and F. chiloensis should not be recognized. We suggest, however, that there is sufficient morphological and geographical separation to warrant the species designations F. chiloensis and F. virginiana. Fragaria chiloensis ssp. pacifica and Fragaria chiloensis ssp. lucida do not appear to deserve distinct subspecies rank, nor do F. virginiana ssp. virginiana and F. virginiana ssp. grayana. North and South American F. chiloensis are morphologically quite similar, but probably deserve subspecies rank, based on their isolation from each other and the fact that they are evolving separately. Fragaria virginiana ssp. glauca and F. virginiana ssp. platypetala should probably be joined as a single subspecies and retained within F. virginiana until further investigations more definitively determine affinity to other F. virginiana and F. chiloensis subspecies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several characteristics of Arbutus andrachne L. fruit harvested at four maturation stages (green, green-orange, orange- red and red) have been examined. Soluble solids, pH, acidity, organic acids, specific sugars, and several nutrient element concentrations (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu) have been determined. The total phenolic content along with antioxidant activity, determined by FRAP and TEAC methods, were also measured. There were significant differences among most of the traits tested. The average soluble solids increased from 16.0 to 20.6% going from the green to the red stages, while the acidity decreased from 0.54 to 0.45%. All of the element concentrations were statistically different among the various stages, with N and Ca being the most variable. The total acidity was found to be the highest in the orange-red and red stages (0.52 and 0.50 g/100 g, respectively). The main organic acid was malic acid (0.32 g/100 g) followed by ascorbic and citric acids (0.09 and 0.03 g/100 g) respectively. The red (17.84 g/100 g) and orange-red (16.25 g/100 g) stages had the highest total sugar values. Fructose was the main sugar in the fruit with an overall average of 8.91 g/100 g. The total phenolic content was highest at the red stage (3,904 mg gallic acid (GA)/kg fresh weight (fw)), followed by the green stage (3,589 mg GA/kg fw). The antioxidant activities were highest at the red stage as determined by both the TEAC and FRAP methods (26.5 and 21.8 μmol TE/g fw). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses research being done on the genetic improvement of beach strawberries. Breeding of strawberries; Recording of the date of each genotypes of the strawberries; Variation observed for fruit color and harvest season.