156 Outlook to Nature 



Botanists considered it to be a good species, 

 and it was named Fragaria grandiflora. This 

 Fragaria grandiflora is known to have been the 

 parent of our common garden strawberries ; yet 

 the botanies have been discreetly silent as to 

 the nativity of the plant. Now, the evidence 

 shows, so far as I could interpret it, that my 

 little strawberry, taken from the woods of 

 Oregon, varied into Fragaria grandiflora in two 

 years. In Oregon it is known to botanists as 

 Fragaria Chiloensis (for it grows in South 

 America as well, and was named from Chilean 

 specimens). If Fragaria grandiflora was a 

 " good species " before my experiment, it was 

 equally good afterward, and, as measured by 

 the actual practice of botanists, a new species 

 had arisen from an old one. 



When I showed a botanist my results, he 

 said that the very fact that I had been a witness 

 of this transformation is proof that the two 

 plants are not true species. I replied that I 

 was sorry that I had not closed my eyes when 

 passing the patch, and I also suggested that his 

 species were founded upon ignorance of their 



