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The Journal of Heredity 



not know the facts of the case, — but 

 certainly it cannot be said that the 

 red-fruited form of F. chiloensis which 

 is cultivated in Peru and Ecuador 

 shows any signs of so doing! 



Duchesne writes of this species that 

 it is more robust, and larger in all its 

 parts, than any of the other straw- 

 berries, and that it makes the slowest 

 growth of all, some plants not flower- 

 ing until they are five years old. It 

 does not produce runners as freely as 

 the horticultural varieties now grown 

 in North America. The flowers, par- 

 ticularly those which appear at the 

 beginning of the season, stand high 

 above the ground on thick, hairy stems, 

 and are fully an inch in diameter. 

 When a field of this species is in full 

 bloom it is almost as fragrant as an 

 orange grove. 



Fletcher,^" in describing the principal 

 characteristics of F. chiloensis, says: 

 "The plant is large, stocky, densely 

 hair>', with large blossoms. It throws 

 out a moderate number of short, stout 

 runners mostly after the fruit has 

 matured. The roots are rather thick, 

 fleshy, and usually are more superficial 

 than those of F. virginiana. When a 

 plant grows in the same place for 

 several years the crown does not divide 

 low down, as in F. virginiana, but 

 makes several large crowns high up, 

 all attached to the main root stalk. 

 The plant is pushed upward out of the 

 soil and new roots form above the old 

 ones." 



We have it on Duchesne's authority 

 that the stamens are abortive, and 

 that no pollen is produced. This cer- 

 tainly is not true of the species as it 

 grows in South America. The fruits, 

 because of their large size and unusual 

 texture, have been, and will continue 



to be, of great interest to strawberry 

 breeders in North America, tLurope, 

 and other regions. It is doubtful if the 

 varieties which are cultivated in South 

 America will be of great value to us, for 

 commercial purposes, until they are 

 crossed with forms better adapted to 

 our climatic conditions. There is no 

 region in the United States with a cli- 

 mate approximating that of Guachi, 

 Ecuador; the distance which separates 

 us from the Equator precludes all 

 possibility of such a thing. We can 

 not, therefore, expect the Guachi 

 variety to fruit throughout the year in 

 any part of this country. 



Certain sections of California are 

 very similar to central Chile, in so far 

 as climate and soil are concerned. The 

 region of Santiago has about the same 

 summer climate as Los Angeles, and a 

 winter which is sometimes, but not 

 often, a few degrees colder. The Chil- 

 ean varieties may, therefore, succeed in 

 southern California, but if they pro- 

 duce fruit only during two or three 

 months of the year, as they do in Chile, 

 they will not be commercially valuable 

 to us. They will, however, be useful 

 to breeders, and from this point of view 

 the value and importance of the horti- 

 cultural forms from South America 

 cannot be over- mphasized. They will 

 give size, texture, and perhaps, ability 

 to resist drought, to many of our im- 

 portant strawberries of the future. 

 One breeder goes even further: Albert 

 F. Etter of California, whose work in 

 strawberry' improvement is noteworthy 

 and entitles him to speak with more 

 than ordinary authority in such mat- 

 ters, ventures the prediction that the 

 "most exquisite flavors the strawberry 

 will ever know will be derived from the 

 various forms of the chiloensis species." 



"Fletcher, S, W., The Strawberry in North America, New York, 1917. 



