198 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



roots, the roots become more and more exposed ; finally 

 the plant succumbs to cold or drought. In early spring 

 the roots are fresh and vigorous, and stay so until after 

 the crop is off ; then they turn black, die and new roots 

 start. The roots of some varieties, as Jucunda, are 

 fleshy and shallow, resembling, in this respect, the roots 

 of F. chiloensis. The roots of other varieties are wiry 

 and anchored deeply in the ground, as is the case with 

 F. virginiana. At first a young strawberry plant has only 

 one crown, but if the runners are kept off it will have 

 many crowns. The crown is a fleshy stem and bears buds 

 like any other stem. Some of these buds become runners ; 

 others become fruit stalks. 



When fruit buds are formed. — In the North the 

 fruit buds are formed in late fall. The conditions that 

 determine the time of fruit bud formation in Wisconsin 

 have been studied by E. S. Goff. He reports:^ "The 

 elaboration of the initial flower cells into flowers takes 

 place, mainly, after the development of runners has ceased, 

 because the branches that form flowers beneath the ter- 

 minal bud are later in order of development than the later 

 formed runners. It seems probable that the elaboration 

 of the flowers takes place rather late in autumn, when 

 growth is declining, and that the rapid development 

 of the flower stalk in spring is but the expansion of the 

 autumn-formed cells, as is the case with most of the early 

 flowering shoots. Since the flower stalk is the terminal 

 or leader shoot of the plant, it follows that the seedling 

 strawberry plant and young runner plant form but one 

 flower stalk the first season that the plant blooms ; but, 

 as the stem of a plant more than one year old may have 

 more than one branch, so an old strawberry plant may 

 1 Rept. Wis. Exp. Sta., 1898, p. 235. 



