152 THE STRAWBERRY IN NORTH AMERICA 



place of Ambato every day in the year. They are culti- 

 vated at an altitude of from 7,000 to 9,500 feet above the 

 sea where the mean temperature of the year ranges be- 

 tween 59 degrees and 67 degrees." In the Copiapo Valley, 

 Chile, the berries grow to a circumference of over six 

 inches. On the Pacific Coast of North America the species 

 is equally abundant, but smaller. According to J. R. 

 Card well, in Oregon it is "abundant and very prolific, 

 so that in some regions, it is said, hogs fatten on them. 

 The berry is not large, but improves under cultivation, 

 and, by some, is classed superior in flavor to the cultivated 

 kinds." 



There are marked variations from the type in different 

 parts of the Pacific Slope. One of the most conspicuous 

 of these is the Alaska beach form, which C. C. Georgeson 

 reports as "growing in almost pure sand along the beach 

 just beyond the waves and disputing the ground with the 

 mosses, grasses and other plants peculiar to the region." 2 

 This beach type has procumbent fruit stalks and very 

 weak peduncles. A large proportion of the leaves have 

 four leaflets. One of the forms of F. chUoensis used by 

 Albert F. Etter of California in his breeding work has 

 light green foliage, and the petioles are covered with a 

 coarse, dense pubescence; another form has glossy dark 

 green leaves, practically free from pubescence. The 

 beach form, or sand strawberry, thrives under such un- 

 favorable conditions that it is used on the Pacific coast to 

 cover dry slopes and exposed places. 



When transplanted to the East, the fruiting season of 

 F. chiloensis is scarcely longer than that of F. virginiana; 

 but on the Pacific Coast its season is extended. In 



1 Kept. Ore. State Bd. Hort., 1907, p. 137. 

 1 Kept. Alaska Exp. Station, 1906, p. 12. 



