ROSACEA. 155 
the inner, but narrower. Petals obovate-roundish, entire, white, 
with the claw indistinct. Fruiting-receptacle } to # inch long, 
fleshy, red or white, closely studded with small yellowish-brown 
glabrous carpels. Plant deep-green, clothed with rather long soft 
hairs. 
Wild Strawberry. 
French, Yraisier Commun. German, Gemeine Erdbeere. 
To inquire into the origin of the name of this familiar and delicious fruit seems 
almost unnecessary ; but it is curious to analyze the meaning of even our household 
words, and to revert to their original use. In old English, we read of the “Streow- 
berie ;” and Dr. Pryor tells us that this name was suggested either by its straw-like 
halms—the little seeds situated on the delicious red juicy receptacle we like so much— 
or from the fruit lying strewn on the ground, or from the custom of laying straw 
between the rows to prevent the fruit being soiled. Some have supposed that the 
name is derived from the custom in some parts of England to sell the wild ones 
threaded on grass straws. But the name dates from a much earlier time than any at 
which Wild Strawberries are likely to have been marketable. We learn from several 
old writers that Strawberries were cultivated in England from a very early period. 
They were much grown in London, a fact mentioned by Hollingshead ; and Shakes- 
peare alludes to them as growing in the garden of the Bishop of Ely in Holborn. 
Gloucester says, in the play of “ Richard the Third,’— 
“ My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, 
I saw good strawberries in your garden there ; 
I do beseech you send for some of them. 
Lily. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart. 
Where is my lord Protector? I have sent for these strawberries. 
Hast. His grace looks cheerfully and smooth this morning.” 
Strange as it may now seem to us who connect the names of Holborn and Ely Place 
with all that is dusty and noisy, dingy and unattractive, given up to busy trade or 
duller law, not longer ago than the time of Shakespeare “ good strawberries” grew there, 
and rural scenes and pastimes flourished ; and so, as time goes on, and men increase 
and spread in this great metropolis of ours, will it be with many a wild district or 
blooming garden when we have passed away. The Wild Wood Strawberry is the 
parent of all our cultivated varieties of Alpine Strawberries, as distinguished from the 
Hautboys, or latter sort of Strawberry, which seems originally to have come from 
the high woods of Bohemia. In their native uncultivated state, the Wild Strawberries 
are without much flavour, very small, but extremely charming objects: amidst their 
dark rich green leaves, the pretty bright berries cannot fail to attract the admiration 
of even those whose palates are too highly cultivated to appreciate such rustic delicacies. 
With cream and sugar, however, we can aflirm that they are not despicable, only their 
minute size reduces the feast to very moderate dimensions. The Strawberry is perhaps 
the most wholesome of fruit, and may be eaten by most people when quite ripe with 
impunity. They are said to promote perspiration, and are undoubtedly very cooling. 
Hoffman thought them beneficial to consumptive people ; and Gerarde tells us that 
“the berries quench thirst, and do allay the inflammation or heate of the stomach,” 
