REMARKS ON STRAWBERRIES. 



497 



is the Doctor's precise language, and it is 

 by no means obscure. 



Let the reader pause and reflect on the 

 statements made by all who have intended 

 to set this matter in its true light, and he 

 will perceive how wide of the mark most 

 of them have come. Instead of clearing 

 up difficulties, and looking only to the facts 

 of the case, each has mounted his hobby, 

 and not a few have been sadly thrown. 

 What is experience worth when it contra- 

 dicts itself ? If words mean anything, and 

 are used in their proper sense, there need 

 be no misunderstanding as to their sijjnifica- 

 tion. 



The strawberry belongs to the order Ico- 

 sandria Monogynia, of Linnceus, the Rosa- 

 ceos of Jussieu. The stamens numerous. 

 In this genus, w^hat is called the fruit, is a 

 fleshy receptacle or polyphore, with carpels 

 (or seeds) appended to it. Mowers herma- 

 phrodite. They are naturally so. Of this 

 character, is — 1, Fragaria vesca, with its 

 varieties, sylcestris and semperjlorens, mi- 

 nor, hortensis, e/lagellis, multiplex, botryfor- 

 mis, and muricata. These varieties em- 

 brace the Red, White, American, and Da- 

 nish Alpi7ie Strawberry, the Red and White 

 fVood, Red and White Busk Alpine, Fra- 

 zier de Montreuil, &c.; 2, F. calycina ; 3, 

 jF, collina, and varieties; and 4, F. plata- 

 Tioides, with red petals. Here we have the 

 type specific, and no cultivation or richness 

 of soil will change it. In some of these va- 

 rieties, too, there are peculiarities worth 

 noticing. In var. botryformis, the stamens 

 are transformed into flowers ; and in var. 

 muricata, the petals are wanting. A few 

 sub-varieties of hortensis have black fruit. 



But there are other species, and a great 

 many varieties, which, varying in the de- 

 velopment of their sexual organization, must 

 be termed diacious. We say varying in 

 their sexual development, because the flow- 



voL. II. 63 



ers are usually dicrcious ; one or two spe- 

 i cies only have the flowers hermaphrodite. 

 I A definition of them, as a class, would read 

 I thus: — Carpels few, immersed in little pits 

 : in the receptacle. Stamens few. Flowers 

 [ usually dioecious from abortion. The spe- 

 cies are — 1, /"". majaufea, (hermaphrodite 

 flowers ;) 2, F. breslingea ; and 3, F. ela- 

 tior. There are two or three varieties of 

 the first, six or seven of the second, and 

 ten or twelve of the third. The Hautbois 

 species and varieties are here included, 

 (varieties of F. elatior,) and although they 

 are the most variable of all strawberries, 

 they still retain a general character from 

 which they do not naturally depart. In all 

 the sorts of Hautbois there exist prolific and 

 sterile plants; these last have very long 

 stamens ; they are true males. In the va- 

 riety frasier framboise, [European Wood 

 Strawberries,] the flowers are always dioe- 

 cious. In the Hudson's Bay, the flowers 

 are larger than any of the others ; the sta- 

 mens long, and permanent round the base 

 of the fruit, even to its full maturity. This 

 variety must not be confounded with a va- 

 riety of the scarlets of the same name. 



We now come to the species F. virgini- 

 ana, embracing, as varieties, all the scar- 

 lets, and the, so termed, black strawber- 

 ries. The flowers are always dioecious 

 from abortion; styles very long, receptacle 

 very tumid. The varieties of the scarlets 

 are very numerous, though but a few can 

 be estimated as first rate sorts. The Down- 

 ton and Elton are among the black varie- 

 ties. 



The species F. grandiflora, embraces all 

 the, so called, pme strawberries, the frasier 

 ana/ms of the French. The flowers always 

 dioecious from abortion. Among the varie- 

 ties we find the Keen's Seedling and the 

 old Carolina pine, with about twenty oth- 

 ers. Turner^s pine is a variety. 



