Evidence-scoped phylogeny

Species Tree

A strongly supported nuclear-genome hypothesis is separated from reticulate or topology-sensitive relationships.

11 taxa in the primary tree 6,054 single-copy orthologs ML + ASTRAL cross-check
Eleven-taxon nuclear phylogenomic hypothesis for Fragaria A species-collapsed cladogram reconstructed from the maximum-likelihood topology in Lin and colleagues, 2024. Fragaria iinumae diverges first, followed by Fragaria viridis. Fragaria vesca and Fragaria mandschurica are sisters. Within the other lineage, Fragaria nilgerrensis, Fragaria daltoniana, Fragaria nubicola and Fragaria pentaphylla diverge successively; Fragaria moupinensis is sister to the Fragaria chinensis and Fragaria corymbosa pair. Branch lengths are schematic. Fragaria corymbosa4x Fragaria chinensis2x Fragaria moupinensis4x Fragaria pentaphylla2x Fragaria nubicola2x Fragaria daltoniana2x Fragaria nilgerrensis2x Fragaria mandschurica2x Fragaria vesca2x Fragaria viridis2x Fragaria iinumae2x
Diploid (2x) Tetraploid (4x) Open SDH species record

Displayed hypothesis. The branching order reproduces the concatenated maximum-likelihood topology in Lin et al. (2024), Fig. 2a, inferred from 6,054 single-copy orthologous gene families. The paper reports congruent ASTRAL analyses and strong support for the five-taxon F. nubicola–F. pentaphylla–F. moupinensis–F. chinensis–F. corymbosa clade and its internal order (BS = 100; LPP = 1.00). Horizontal distances are schematic and do not encode divergence time.

Reticulate origin · 8x

Cultivated strawberry

F. chiloensis F. virginiana
F. × ananassa

The crop arose about 300 years ago through hybridization of the two wild octoploid species. It is shown as a two-parent origin, not as a third independent tip. At subgenome scale, 2025 phylogenomics supports the closest extant A-lineage relatives within North American F. vesca and the B lineage near F. iinumae; introgression and extinct or unsampled ancestry prevent a simple four-diploid-donor tree.

Deliberately not forced onto the backbone

Topology-sensitive or unsampled taxa

F. nipponica 2x
Included in the 2023 ten-diploid study, but its relative position with F. chinensis, F. nubicola, and F. pentaphylla changes across genomic partitions and methods.
F. orientalis 4x
Not sampled in the 6,054-ortholog reference analysis; a single bifurcating placement would overstate the evidence for a polyploid taxon.
F. moschata 6x
Not sampled in the reference analysis and has a polyploid history that is not represented by the selected nuclear backbone.

Sources and exact evidence locations

  1. Primary displayed topology. Lin H. et al. (2024). Genomic data provides insights into the evolutionary history and adaptive differentiation of two tetraploid strawberries. Horticulture Research 11:uhae194. Check Results, “The diploid progenitor of two tetraploids,” especially Fig. 2a–b and the two paragraphs reporting 6,054 orthologs, the five-taxon monophyletic clade, and its internal order.
  2. Diploid discordance and introgression. Feng C. et al. (2023). Recombination variation shapes phylogeny and introgression in wild diploid strawberries. Molecular Biology and Evolution 40:msad049. Check Fig. 1a (ASTRAL tree from 3,859 low-recombination window trees), Fig. 2, and Results, “Phylogeny and Population Structure.” The study reports widespread discordance and approximately 4.1% average introgressed ancestry.
  3. Octoploid reticulate history. Fan Z. et al. (2025). Homoploid hybridization adds clarity to the origins of octoploid strawberries. PNAS 122:e2502814122. Check the Abstract, “Reticulate Evolution in Octoploid Strawberry,” Fig. 1, and the concluding evolutionary model. The analysis separates subgenomes and explicitly models introgression and extinct or unsampled ancestry.
  4. Wild octoploid parents. Jin X. et al. (2023). Haplotype-resolved genomes of wild octoploid progenitors illuminate genomic diversifications from wild relatives to cultivated strawberry. Nature Plants 9:1252–1266. Check the Abstract and Fig. 2 for the F. chiloensis, F. virginiana, and cultivated strawberry relationship and subgenome assignments.

Scientific scope reviewed 10 August 2026. This page presents a traceable reference hypothesis, not a claim that one bifurcating tree captures every chromosome history in Fragaria.