View source for Virginia Strawberry

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Virginia Strawberry
| image = Fragaria virginiana.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = <small>''Fragaria virginiana''</small>
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Rosales]]
| familia = [[Rosaceae]]
| subfamilia = [[Rosoideae]]
| genus = ''[[Strawberry|Fragaria]]''
| species = '''''F. virginiana'''''
| binomial = ''Fragaria virginiana''
| binomial_authority = [[Philip Miller|Mill.]]
}}

The '''Virginia Strawberry''' (''Fragaria virginiana''), is one of two species of [[strawberry]] that were [[hybrid]]ized to create the modern domesticated [[Garden Strawberry]]. Its natural range is confined to [[North America]], in the [[United States]] (including [[Alaska]]) and [[Canada]]. 

It is also sometimes called "Wild Strawberry", though this can also refer to several other species of ''Fragaria'', particularly ''[[Woodland Strawberry|F. vesca]]''.

;Subspecies
There are four recognized subspecies:
*''Fragaria virginiana'' subsp. ''glauca'' (formerly known as ''F. ovalis'')
*''Fragaria virginiana'' subsp. ''grayana''
*''Fragaria virginiana'' subsp. ''platypetala''
*''Fragaria virginiana'' subsp. ''virginiana''

===Cytology===
All strawberries have a base [[haploid]] count of 7 [[chromosomes]]. ''Fragaria virginiana'' is [[polyploidy|octoploid]], having eight sets of these chromosomes for a total of 56. These eight genomes pair as four distinct sets, of two different types, with little or no pairing between sets. The genome composition of the octoploid strawberry species has generally been indicated as AAA'A'BBB'B'. The A-type genomes were likely contributed by diploid ancestors related to ''[[Fragaria vesca]]'' or similar species, while the B-type genomes seem to descend from a close relative of ''[[Fragaria iinumae]]''. The exact process of hybridization and speciation which resulted in the octoploid species is still unknown, but it appears that the genome compositions of both ''[[Fragaria chiloensis]]'' and ''Fragaria virginiana'' (and by extension the cultivated octoploid strawberry as well) are identical.

==External links==
*[http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?267 ''F. virginiana'' information from the GRIN Taxonomy Database]

<gallery>
image:Fragaria_virginianaZZ.jpg|<i>Fragaria virginiana</i>
</gallery>

[[Category:Accessory fruit]]
[[Category:Fragaria]]

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