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Fruits, Berries, and Nuts

Fruits, Berries, and Nuts

 

 

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Louisiana State Fruit

Strawberry Strawberry: Louisiana State Fruit

(Genus Fragaria)
Adopted in 2001.

 

The 2001 Louisiana Legislature selected the strawberry,  Genus Fragaria, as the official state fruit. Ponchatoula, located in Tangipahoa Parish, is considered the strawberry capital of Louisiana. The annual festival attracts 300,000 festival goers to the small town of 5,000.

 

 

Louisiana Revised Statutes
RS 49:166
§166. State fruit
There shall be an official state fruit. The official state fruit shall be the Louisiana strawberry. Its use on official documents of the state and with the insignia of the state is hereby authorized.
Added by Acts 1980, No. 432, §1; Acts 2001, No. 10, §1.

 

Louisiana strawberries are produced on 400-500 acres primarily in Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes in the southeastern part of the state. Louisiana is consistently in the top 10 strawberry producing states. In 2003, the value of strawberries produced in the state approached $8.7 million. There are several small plantings scattered in the state for the local markets. Production costs run approximately $8,500 per acre. All the strawberries produced in Louisiana are for the fresh market. Several of the larger growers deliver to the wholesale markets, while the smaller growers sell to retail outlets.

 

Today, the cultivated strawberry ranks high on the list of preferred foods of people around the world. Although the genus Fragaria is comprised of numerous species with origins as diverse as Alaska, Hawaii, Chile, central Europe and the Himalayas, the cultivated strawberry is largely the result of hybridization of two species native to the Americas. Of these two species, Fragaria chiloensis is found along the Pacific coast from Alaska, along the beaches of Chile to the Andean highlands. The second species, Fragaria virginiana is native to meadows throughout central and eastern North America from Ontario to Louisiana.

The history of modern strawberry breeding dates back to the 1714 when Amedee Francois Frezier, a French army officer returned from a foreign mission with plants of the large fruited F. chiloensis he had seen fruiting in Chile. Later in France, these plants were crossed with F. virginiana, which had been introduced into Europe at an earlier date. Genetic improvement during the next two hundred years was relatively slow and was done primarily by private breeders. Over the next eighty years, strawberry breeders have sought to increase yield and fruit size as well as incorporating resistance to diseases and insect pests.

Growing Strawberries
  • Buy only high quality, disease-free plants from a reliable nursery.
  • Plants should be set at the same depth at which they were grown in the nursery, about mid-point in the crown.
  • Strawberry plants prefer very well drained soils and are adaptable to raised beds, whisky barrels and hanging baskets.
  • When preparing raised beds, the ideal soil mix is comprised of a one half builders sand, one quarter peat or sphagnum moss and one quarter top soil.
  • Design beds to allow for at least one square foot per plant.
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta, the Angiosperms (flowering plants)
Class Magnoliopsida, the Dicotyledons
Subclass Rosidae, the Roses
Order Rosales, the Roses
Family Rosaceae (Rose Family)
Genus Fragaria
Species *

 

 

 

 

State Fruits

Fruits, Berries, and Nuts

 

Fruit is a necessary part of any nutritious diet. Fruits are an excellent source of vitamin C and fiber, they contain no cholesterol, and they are low in fat

 

fruit (frt)
n. pl. fruit or fruits


1.
a. The ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant, together with accessory parts, containing the seeds and occurring in a wide variety of forms.
b. An edible, usually sweet and fleshy form of such a structure.
c. A part or an amount of such a plant product, served as food: fruit for dessert.
2. The fertile, often spore-bearing structure of a plant that does not bear seeds.
3. A plant crop or product: the fruits of the earth.

 

 

 

 

 
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