THE STRAWBERRY TREE (ARBUTUS)

I had a lot of trouble getting a decent picture of this tree's fruits and flowers and this one is not good. I have tried everything but the camera is behaving as if it has a macro lens, even on manual focus. I had to do the shot "before it is too late." I'll name no names but somebody around here has been chuntering about how it "ought" to be done.

I took one shot of a yellow chrysanthemum with a grasshopper in the middle which is much cuter, also one of a giant, slimy, squeamy slug which I'm sure everybody wants to see, but strawberry tree it is. Our fine weather is leaving us as a low moves in from the north and promises us a week of rain.


The Arbutus is called the strawberry tree because of its red berries, obviously. They are edible but entirely tasteless. They are not sour, they are not sweet. They are just textured liquid. Even the birds ignore them. I understand they are fermented in Portugal and made into a liquor called medronho. Not legal.

The tree has flowers and fruits at the same time because the fruit appears five months after germination. It is a member of the heather family which means it hates lime and thrives in acidic soil. It grows everywhere in the woods here but attempts to move young trees to town gardens fail most of the time because it doesn't like its roots to be disturbed

It is called arbetrello locally and is said to be sotto bosco, under wood, and it likes to grow near or right under other trees. It's a small tree or that wouldn't be possible. It does have nice evergreen leaves but just now it is dropping squishy red berries everywhere.