Arbutus is a genus of 12 accepted species[2] of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae,[3] native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands and North America. The name Arbutus was taken from Latin, where it referred to Arbutus unedo.[4]
Arbutus are small trees or shrubs with red flaking bark and edible red berries.[5] Fruit development is delayed for about five months after pollination, so that flowers appear while the previous year’s fruit are ripening.[5] Peak flowering for the genus is in April with peak fruiting in October.[6]
The smooth wood of the tree is mentioned by Theophrastus in his Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum) as formerly being used to make weaving spindles. An article on Arbutus tree cultivation in Spain is brought down in Ibn al-‘Awwam’s 12th-century agricultural work, Book on Agriculture.[7]
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