Fragaria germplasm: the "Professor Staudt Collection"

Günter Staudt's studies on the genus Fragaria began in 1946. He was still a student when he was introduced to the Berlin Fragaria collection of Elisabeth Schiemann, who was a scholar of the famous geneticist Erwin Baur. He studied more than 300 in vivo accessions and specimens from the important herbaria in the world. He classified 24 species of the genus Fragaria. Additions can be made due to further taxonomical research in the genus since 2008. Günther Staudt's scientific collection and his private living plant collection were transferred to Dresden, Germany, and are now in the custody of the author. According to his will, the most valuable herbarium has been handed over to the Herbarium berolinense. The living plant collection is in possession of the author and is maintained at Hansabred GmbH & Co. KG in Dresden, Germany. In this contribution, the present status of the collection is portrayed. Since 2008, the collection has grown to a volume of 519 species accessions focusing on the Eurasian species F. vesca (137 accessions), F. ×bifera (16 acc.), F. viridis (51 acc.) and F. moschata (87 acc.) as well as 48 artificial species hybrids. The collection is actively used for plant research and plant breeding projects. At present, the collection serves in various studies on taxonomy, phylogeny, fruit diversity studies (metabolites) and resistances (powdery mildew, Drosophila suzuki, spider mite, Phytophthora cactorum and Verticillium wilt) using a wide range of analytical tools. Accessions with promising characteristics are being used in Hansabred's breeding program.