New Wild Strawberry Species Discovered
The Newly Discovered Fragaria cascadensis Kim Hummer It's super-tiny, about the size of your thumbnail. Can I get this job? Researchers have discovered a new species of wild mountain strawberry. It grows in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, at elevations of 3,000 feet to about 5,000 feet. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already squirreled away a sample of the strawberry in its plant bank in Corvallis, Oregon. The U.S. agency manages the bank as a repository of genetic diversity for edible plants. At first blush, the new strawberry looks much like other wild strawberries that grow throughout Washington, Oregon and California, says Kim Hummer, the USDA biologist who discovered the berry. Genetically, however, it's quite different. It has 10 sets of chromosomes, unlike other wild strawberries in the area, which have only eight. In fact, the only other 10-chromosome wild strawberry that scientists have identified grows on one Russian island northwest...