ROSACEAE FRAGARIA 



509 



2. Fragaria L. Strawberry 



Perennial stemless herbs; leaves petioled, stipulate, 3-foliolate; flowers white, 

 in clusters, polygamo-dioecious ; calyx persistent, with 5 bractlets, deeply 5-lobed; 

 petals 5 ; stamens numerous ; carpels or pistils numerous ; the receptacle elongat- 

 ed, which become fleshy in fruit. A small genus of about 25 species contain- 

 ing the common cultivated strawberry (F. chiloensis) of the Pacific coast, our 

 wild strawberry (F. virginiana) , the European strawberry (F. vesca) and the 

 Indian strawberry (F. Indica or Duchesnea indica). 



Fragaria vesca L. European Wood Strawberry 



A perennial with ovate leaves, dentate, thin ; flowers white, racemose recep- 

 tacle, elongate, fruit with achenes, seeds free above the receptacle. It is very 

 different from our common wild strawberry, in which the achenes are sunken 

 in the flesh. 



Poisonous properties. Few people would suspect that the seeds of the straw- 

 berry are injurious, but I have known people who have found that the eating 

 of the common cultivated strawberry is injurious, and it is known that the 

 European strawberry (F. vesca) produces a rash that sometimes resembles that 

 produced by scarlatina. Dr. Millspaugh, in speaking of the European straw- 

 berry, says of a lady coming under his care who had consumed the fruit of the 

 strawberry grown in Florida : 



In the afternoon of the same day the skin was hot and swollen, the patient thirsty 

 and restless, and little sleep was gained that night; the next day the eruption began to fade, 

 the appetite returned, and restlessness ceased. On the third day exfoliation began and was 

 very profuse, the skin appearing quite similar to the condition existing after a severe attack 

 of scarlatina. 



Fig. 270 Fig. 270a 



Fig. 270. Wild Strawberry (Fragaria inrginiana). (Ada Hayden). Fig. 270a. Wild 

 Strawberry {Fragaria vesca). (Willis). 



