148 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



Europe and extends from Lapland, the Shetland Islands 

 and Lake Wetter in Sweden (north latitude 60 degrees), 

 to Spain, Sicily and Greece. In Asia, it is found north 

 of 60 degrees north latitude, from Russian Siberia to 

 Armenia and the northern part of Syria. In South 

 America it is common throughout the Andean Range; 

 at the equator it climbs the mountains to find a congenial 

 habitat. The wild strawberry grows over practically 

 all of North America, including Iceland, Newfoundland, 

 Labrador, to the very border of the Arctic Zone. It 

 extends in an almost unbroken chain from Iceland and 

 Alaska and the 64th parallel in the North, through Mexico 

 and Central America to South America. No continent 

 or large body of land is without an indigenous species. 



The genus Fragaria is so variable that many of the 

 numerous species are not clearly defined. There are, 

 however, four quite distinct t^npe or groups, all but one 

 of which are represented in North America. These are 

 F. virginiana, F. chiloensis, F. vesca, and F. elatior. 



F. virginiana. — This is the most widely distributed 

 North American species. It grows from sea-level to an 

 altitude of 12,000 feet and is found in practically every 

 State and Province. In Colorado, it fruits abundantly 

 at the timber line. The plant is small, slender, erect, 

 smooth or slightly silky, with small blossoms. It throws 

 out long runners in great profusion, many of them appear- 

 ing at the time of blossoming. WTien the plant stands in 

 the same place for several years the crown divides, instead of 

 elongating and pushing out of the ground, as in F. chiloen- 

 sis. The roots are wiry, and the plant sets deeply and 

 firmly in the ground. The leaflets are large, light green, 

 rather thin, slightly silky when young, glabrate when old, 

 sharp toothed and often folded. The fruit is borne early in 



