THE STRAWBERRIES 207 



red ; more or less hairy ; flesh white, with a hollow core ; flavor mild, musky ; 

 seeds brown, raised or in shallow pits. 



313. Habitat of the common strawberry. — This is the usual 

 wild strawberry from Alaska to California in North America, 

 and from Peru to Patagonia in South America. As would be 

 expected from its great range in latitude, there are many marked 

 variations. The North American form has as yet given no 

 valuable varieties, although it has been used in breeding by 

 several workers, but the South American form is represented 

 in the lineage of nearly all varieties now cultivated in America. 

 To the Chilean strawberry, in particular, is due the large size of 

 modern strawberries. 



314. History of the American garden strawberry. — This 

 strawberry was introduced into France in 1712 by Frezier, a 

 French officer, who found it in Chile, both wild and cultivated. 

 In 1727, it was introduced into England, but seems not to 

 have found general favor. The Pine strawberry, the name re- 

 ferring to the pineapple fragrance, now considered the progeni- 

 tor of cultivated varieties, made its appearance in Europe about 

 the middle of the eighteenth century, but its origin must ever re- 

 main a mystery ; it is now thought by some writers to be a hybrid. 

 One of the first of the large-fruited strawberries was Keene's 

 Seedling of the Pine strain, originated by an Englishman in 

 1819. Soon after, this and similar large-fruited varieties were 

 introduced in America, and the cultivation of this group of 

 strawberries was begun in the New World. 



315. The Alpine strawberry described. — This species was in- 

 troduced in America as early as 1750, and while there are now 

 no pure-bred varieties of it under cultivation in this country, it 

 is an occasional escape from domesticated plants of the past and 

 merits a description. 



3. Fragaria vesca, Linn. Plant low, erect ; runners long, slender, rather 

 numerous. Leaves radical; leaflets thin and light green as compared Avith 

 the foregoing species; silky when young, glabrous at maturity; margins 

 serrate, the teeth very sharp. Flowers small, borne irregularly in loose 

 racemes on weak erect scapes longer than the leaf -stalks; calyx small and 

 recurved. Berries small, firm, round, or round-conic, sometimes pointed ; 

 flesh white, rich and delicate, aromatic; seeds small, many, prominent, 

 raised. 



