ARBUTUS UNEDO / strawberry tree


Strawberry Tree........very attractive evergreen of Mediterranean region. However , picture above is taken on Blacksea coast of Istanbul close to Boshphorus enterence. After an exteremely dry summer conditions of Istanbul in 2007 , fruit production of strawberry tree was remarkably high compare to other years .
Plant has interesting features ;
-very tolerant to industrial pollution....
-fruits of current year and the flowers of next year fruits can be seen at the same time on the tree in November and December
-it is drought tolerant....can be planted in places where water is short . Strawberry tree is withstood temperatures down to -16 without injury . It also salt tolerant ....amazing...
-fruit is very tasty especially this year in Blacksea region contrary to lot of report say fruit is tasteless . Some reports say fruit contain about 20 % sugars and it seems that sugar percentage is highly correlated with high summer temperatures.
Latin name Unedo refers ' I eat one only ' ..curious because I eat always more than one because it has the delicacy of tropical fruit with pleasant flavour .
The bark of the strawberry tree has been used in tanning leather .
In Portugal fruits are fermented to make strong wine known as Medronho.
In history has been suggested that fruit is an antidote for the plague. It also suggested that if eaten in quantity it is said to be narcotic. Personally havent noticed this effect but ıt could be curious to investigation...
A little history....BC 168 Lucretius stated that ' girls could be bought with Arbutus berries so Venus join the bodies of lover in the wood; a girl share the a man's appetite , or succumbed to his insistance or took a bribe : acorns , Arbutus berries .
Strong antibiotic because all parts contains ethyl gallate which is effective against Mycobacterium bacteria.
Also noted that active in kidney disorders/

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