I learned Latin as a child, in a French secondary school (lycée). The Latin teacher, who had likewise learned this ancient language as a child, would set a trap, asking for a French translation of arbutus. Inevitably, us innocent pupils would translate it as arbuste (arbust) instead of the correct arbousier (strawberry tree). I fully realize I now have to explain, not the Latin but the English name: why ‘strawberry tree’?
But first, its naming in Latin. Romans apparently referred to it as either arbutus or unedo. The latter is short for Unum Tantum Edo, I eat only one-a-day (Pliny the Elder). In Linnaeus’s time, the shrub was alst named Arbutus uva ursi (Arbutos of the bear’s grape), somewhat similar to its name in English, strawberry tree; for its red fruit.
The shrub grows all around the Mediterranean, on its shores, all over: Greece, North Africa, southwestern Morocco, Corsica and Provence, Sardinia, Malta, Cyprus (together with the related species Arbutus andrachne), Spain and Portugal. It is found typically on acidic and dry soil, in scrubland and in siliceous undergrowth.
The small white or pink flowers coexist with the fruit for several months, from November to January.Speaking of the fruit, indeed strawberry-like in appearance. it is reported with a rather bland taste, sweet and sour. Its texture is given as sandy and gritty.
And it was used for centuries in the traditional pharmacopeia, for a number of (minor) ailments, as antiseptic, diuretic and laxative while the leaves were used as diuretic, urinary antiseptic, antidiarrheal, astringent, depurative and antihypertensive.
Actually, some recent studies report activity against colon cancer which, no doubt, will lead to commercial applications.