STRA WBERRIES — ORIGIN AND HIS TOR Y. 53 



ling, originated by John Wilson, of Albany, N, Y., about 

 twenty-five years ago, and, in our own time, of the superb 

 varieties, Monarch of the West, Seth Boyden, Charles Down- 

 ing, and Sharpless. 



As in the Alpine species there are two distinct strains, — 

 the Alpine of the Continent, and the Wood strawberry of 

 England, — so in the wild Virginian species there are two 

 branches of the family, — the Eastern and the Western. The 

 differences are so marked that some writers have asserted 

 that there are two species ; but we have the authority of 

 Professor Gray for saying that the Western, or Fragaria Illi- 

 noensis, is "perhaps" a distinct species, and he classifies it 

 as only a very marked variety. 



There are but two more species of the strawberry genus. 

 Of the first of these, the Fragaria hidica, or Indian straw- 

 berry, there is little to say. It is a native of Northern In- 

 dia, and differs so much from the other species that it was 

 formerly named as a distinct genus. It has yellow flowers, 

 and is a showy house-plant, especially for window-baskets, 

 but the fruit is dry and tasteless. It is said by Prof. Gray 

 to have escaped cultivation and become wild in some lo- 

 calities of this country. 



Fragaria Chilensis is the last great species or subdivision 

 that we now have to consider. Like the F. Virginiana^ it 

 is a native of the American continent, and yet we have 

 learned to associate it almost wholly with Europe. It grows 

 wild on the Pacific slope, from Oregon to Chili, creeping 

 higher and higher up the mountains as its habitat approaches 

 the equator. " It is a large, robust species, with very firm, 

 thick leaflets, soft and silky on the under side." The flow- 

 ers are larger than in the other species ; the fruit, also, in its 

 native condition, averages much larger, stands erect instead 

 of hanging, ripens late, is rose-colored, firm and sweet in 



