Two types of strawberry trees are grown in the United States: the Chinese and the European strawberry tree. The Chinese strawberry tree grows larger in the garden, up to 15 feet tall and 15 ft wide, densely covered with leaves with an increasing productive capacity of ripening berries each year as the tree matures. The trees are self pollinating, and the twigs contain thorns that disappear as the tree ages as the hard bark replaces them.
The European strawberry tree produces a similar looking fruit that botanists describe as a berry, and that tree is thornless. The European strawberry tree is confined to be grown in the more Southern States with warm climates like Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, and the European strawberry tree lacks the extreme cold hardiness of the Chinese strawberry tree.