ORIGIN AND BOTANY 113 



being strewed — anciently "strawed" — over the ground. 

 It is significant that the first reference to this fruit in Eng- 

 lish writings, by John Lydgate, was to the "straeberry." 



Origin of the Garden Strawberry of Europe 



At the close of the sixteenth century the Wood straw- 

 berry, F. vesca, had shown little capacity for improvement 

 as grow^n in English gardens. After having been in culti- 

 vation over a century, it had not produced varieties that 

 were better than the wild form. On the continent, 

 however, where F. vesca had been grown in gardens for 

 three hundred years, one variety appeared a little later 

 that had distinct merit. When Duchesne published his 

 valuable monograph on this fruit, in 1766, the favorite 

 market variety near Paris was the Fressant, at first called 

 the Cappron, or Chaperon. This was a seedling of F. 

 vesca, with a large, pale berry, that had been produced 

 about 1660 at Montreuil, France. It was the first culti- 

 vated variety and the first improved seedling of which 

 there is record. The other European species, F. elatior, 

 the Hautbois, had not been grown in gardens to any extent 

 and had produced no valuable varieties. At the close of 

 the sixteenth century there had been practically no im- 

 provement in the European species. There was little 

 progress until the introduction of the two American 

 species, F. virginiana and F. chiloensis. 



The Virginian strawberry was introduced into Europe 

 from North America early in the seventeenth century, 

 possibly by Tradescant. In 1624 it was commended in 

 France by Jean Robin, botanist to Louis XIII. The 

 attractive color, large size, acceptable flavor and enticing 

 fragrance of this species made it a favorite at once. At 



