Arbutus

arbutus

Any of about 14 species (genus Arbutus) of broad-leaved evergreen shrubs or trees, in the heath family. Native to southern Europe and western North America, they are characterized by loosely clustered white or pink flowers and red or orange berries. A. menziesii (variously known as the madrona, Pacific madrona, laurelwood, and Oregon laurel) and A. unedo (the strawberry tree) are cultivated as ornamentals. The trailing arbutus belongs to the genus Epigaea.

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arbutus

1. any of several temperate ericaceous shrubs of the genus Arbutus, esp the strawberry tree of S Europe. They have clusters of white or pinkish flowers, broad evergreen leaves, and strawberry-like berries

2. See trailing arbutus

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Arbutus 

a genus of small evergreen trees or shrubs of the family Ericaceae. The leaves are large, leathery, simple, and entire. The blossoms are small, monoecious, regular, white or pink, and in apical panicles; the fruit is a berry-shaped, polyspermous drupe, similar to the fruit of the strawberry.

There are more than 20 species of Arbutus in North America and the Mediterranean region. In the USSR there are two species: the red arbutus (A. andrachne) grows wild on sea-side rocks and is cultivated in the Crimea and in Western Transcaucasia; the strawberry tree (A. unedo) is also found there in cultivation. Its fruits are used for jam and wine, and the wood for manufactured articles. Both these species are ornamental and nectariferous plants.

REFERENCE

Derev’ia i kustarniki SSSR, vol. 5. Moscow-Leningrad, 1960.