196 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



dred of these curious hybrids not one has ever produced 

 a berry, though blooming with the greatest profusion. 

 As the blossoms fade, a bunch forms resembling a minia- 

 ture strawberry, but it never matures. The plants, 

 when young, are practically strawberry plants, but, 

 with age, produce canes five or six feet high, multiply- 

 ing by curious underground stolons. The leaves are 

 trifoliate invariably; the canes are thornless, or nearly 

 so." A cluster of blossoms and some of the leaves, shown 

 in the photograph accompanying this description, re- 

 semble the raspberry more than the strawberry. 



During the past few years the results of crossing have 

 been made somewhat more predictable by the discovery 

 and application to breeding of Mendel's law.^ C. W. 

 Richardson, reporting upon some crosses between a 

 runnerless Alpine strawberry and a running variety, 

 showed that in this case runner production was " marked 

 dominant." ^ 



Botanical relationships and morphology. — A knowl- 

 edge of the anatomy of the strawberry plant and of its 

 botanical relationships is of value to the breeder. The 

 following statement by H. de Vilmorin is of interest : ^ 

 "The species included in the genus Fragaria appear to 

 stand on the very border between herbaceous and shrubby 

 plants. Potentillas, which are next to them in botanical 

 classification, have a still wider range of organization; 

 some of them, as P. anserina, being perfectly herbaceous, 

 and others, as P. fruticosa, being decidedly shrubs, with 

 woody permanent stems. Strawberries are mostly placed 



1 The reader is referred to "Plant Breeding," by Bailey and 

 Gilbert, for a full discussion of the principles and practice of plant 

 breeding. 



2 Jour. Genetics, 3 (1914), No. 3, pp. 171-177. 



3 Trans. Royal Hort. Soc, 1898-9, pp. 318-319. 



