THE BOTANY OF THE STRAWBERRY. 23T 



like a water tank in one respect. Suppose you had a water tank that 

 held a million barrels of water; suppose that tank is leaking all the 

 time; now suppose the leaks all freeze up and your pump keeps going 

 for a while. Daring that time your tank will be full, but you can't 

 have it full in the summer when it is leaking all the time. A tree 

 has these little pumps — little roots — down in the ground at work 

 bringing in moisture. In the summer time there are thousands of 

 leaves all over the surface; they are porous, the water passes off, and 

 the tree is never full in the summer time any more than a leaky water 

 tank can be made full. In the fall the leaves drop, the buds are sealed 

 over, and it has no chance for leaking, but these little roots are pump- 

 ing away until everything is frozen up, and in that way they fill the 

 tree. A tree is simply filled up because of the fact that the roots are 

 pumping away. There is no object in it, but simply that's the nature 

 of the thing and it can't help it; that's just the word, it can't help it. 



NOTES ON THE BOTANY OF THE STRAWBERRY. 



CHAKLES B. BESSEY. 



There are less than a dozen species of strawberries [Fragaria) in 

 the world, more than half of which (seven) are natives of North 

 America. They resemble one another very closely, and are quite diffi- 

 cult to separate, especially when they have been modified by long cul- 

 tivation ; in fact, it is probable that the eleven species enumerated be- 

 low could be easily reduced to five or at most six. 



The genus Fragaria may be described as follows: 



Fragaria L., Sp. PI., 494 (1753). — The Strawberry. — Flowers: 

 hermaphrodite or polygamo-dioecious; receptacle enlarged, conical or 

 spheroidal, bearing the numerous small one-ovuled pistils, which eventu- 

 ally become seed-like, dry, indehiscent fruits ("seed"); sepals five, green ;: 

 petals five, white or rarely pinkish ; stamens many, in some varieties im- 

 perfect on some of the flowers, such flowers being known as pistillate. 

 The plants are perennial, bearing trifoliate leaves (rarely simple, lobed 

 leaves); their lateral branches form runners which strike root and give 

 rise to new plants. They are natives of temperate and Alpine regions 

 throughout tl>e northern hemisphere, and occur in the mountains of 



