Arbutus is a genus of 12 accepted species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands and North America, and commonly called madrones, madronas, or strawberry trees. The name Arbutus was taken by taxonomists from Latin, where it referred to the species now designated Arbutus unedo.

Arbutus are evergreen trees or shrubs with red flaking bark. The stems can produce lignotubers. The petiolate, bifacial or isofacial, ovate or elliptic leaves are alternate.

The 10-40-flowered racemes or panicles bear bisexual, urceolate flowers with 5 persistent, basally fused sepals. The flower has 5 petals. The androecium is composed of 10 stamens. The gynoecium is composed of 5 carpels with a capitate stigma. The edible, red, globose berry bears 1–5 seeds. Fruit development is delayed for about five months after pollination, so that flowers appear while the previous year's fruit are ripening. Peak flowering for the genus is in April with peak fruiting in October.

It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The type species is Arbutus unedo L. It is placed in the subfamily Arbutoideae.

A study published in 2001 which analyzed ribosomal DNA from Arbutus and related genera suggests that Arbutus is paraphyletic and the Mediterranean Basin species of Arbutus are more closely related to Arctostaphylos, Arctous, Comarostaphylis, Ornithostaphylos and Xylococcus than to the western North American species of Arbutus, and that the split between the two groups of species occurred at the Paleogene/Neogene boundary. The 12 species are as follows:

Arbutus species are used as food plants by some Lepidoptera species including emperor moth, Pavonia pavonia and the madrone butterfly. The distribution of the latter species is in fact heavily affected by the distribution of the madrone.

Members of the genus are called madrones or madronas in the United States, from the Spanish madroño (Mediterranean strawberry tree). On the south coast of British Columbia, Canada, where the species Arbutus menziesii, native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern and Central California regions is common, Arbutus is commonly used or, rarely and locally, "tick tree". In Oregon and California, it is usually called the madrone, while madrona is the common name in Washington State. Some species in the genera Epigaea, Arctostaphylos and Gaultheria were formerly classified in Arbutus. As a result of its past classification, Epigaea repens (mayflower) has an alternative common name of "trailing Arbutus".

Several species are widely cultivated as ornamental plants outside of their natural ranges, though cultivation is often difficult due to their intolerance of root disturbance.