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National Strawberry Day … for Rose Family Member

Today, February 27, is celebrated as National Strawberry Day, and while I was preparing for this blog post for The Daily Artisan, I learned something surprising about strawberries.

Strawberries are a part of the rose family. Who knew?!


With as many strawberries as I’ve eaten in my lifetime, one would think I’d have known this interesting factoid but I did not until today! So for today’s post, I went out and bought strawberries and (red) roses to photograph – and will later enjoy each in their own right.


Here are some other facts I learned about strawberries:

  • The average strawberry has 200 seeds.
  • Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside, and thus technically are not true berries like blueberries and grapes that have seeds on the inside.
  • Botanists consider each seed – on each strawberry – to be its own separate fruit.
  • Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen each spring.
  • Long valued as a healthy food, strawberries are low in fat; low in calories; rich in nitrates; have zero cholesterol; and are high in Vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, and potassium. They can help reduce the risk of heart attacks and cancer, and strawberries can prevent memory loss.
  • Strawberries contain more Vitamin C than oranges.
  • 94% of households in the United States consume strawberries.
  • Americans on average eat 3.4 pounds of fresh strawberries each year, plus another 1.8 pounds of frozen ones.
  • There are 103 species of strawberries.
  • California produces 75-80% of the strawberries in the United States, followed next by Florida and then North Carolina.
  • One acre of land can grow 50,000 pounds of strawberries.
  • Fear of strawberries is called fragariaphobia!

So, back to the strawberries and roses …


In the plant world, strawberries are classified as members of the Rosaceae family, commonly known as the rose family.

Rosaceae has approximately 3,400 species, including herbs, trees, and shrubs. And, the Rosaceae plants are divided into subfamilies with common characteristics – including Rosoideae with strawberries and roses!


Strawberries are such a delicious and versatile food. What other food do you know that can be cut up raw over cereal; churned into ice cream; baked in a dessert pie; and blended into a daiquiri – to name just a few?!

And, it should not have been such a surprise to me about the connection between strawberries and roses because they both smell divine!


For today’s photography challenge, I paid homage to National Strawberry Day and also brought in roses in acknowledgement of the new information I learned today! The roses could have been any color, but I decided to keep it all in the red family today, so red roses it is.

The strawberries and roses were a lot of fun to photograph, especially now knowing they are relatives.

Enjoy the show, and remember to support our Florida Strawberry Growers Association, and other growers around the country – we salute them today on National Strawberry Day!









Did you know strawberries and roses are in the same plant family? Do you enjoy them both like I do? Be sure to comment below!


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