NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE STRAWBERRY. 195 



of Berkshire County, Mass. Molina records that the Chili straw- 

 berr}', Fragaria Chiloensis, in Chili has red, white, and yellow 

 fruited varieties, and Frezier, who introduced the species to Europe 

 in 1712, calls the fruit pale red. Gmelin in his " Flora Sibirica," 

 1768, mentions three varieties of the Fragaria vesca; one with a 

 larger flower and fruit, one with white fruit ; a third with winged 

 petioles and berries an inch long. This last variety se<^s to an- 

 swer to those forms of strawberry plants occasionally found among 

 the seedlings at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 which have extra leaflets upon the stem of the petiole. Five- 

 leaved strawberry plants are noted by many of the earlj- writers ; an 

 account of such plants may also be found in tlie "Report of the New 

 York Agricultural Experiment Station" for 1877. Variegated leaved 

 forms are named by Tournefort, 1719, and a number of varieties by 

 Mawe in 1778. Such forms were also noted among the seedling 

 Alpines at the New York Station in 1887. Don, in his " Gardeners' 

 Dictionary," 1832, describes the Fragaria vesca as varying into red, 

 white, and black fruit, as without runners, as double flowered, as 

 with stamens transformed into flowers, as without petals and folia- 

 ceous sepals ; F. majaufea, Duch., {=^F. Hagenbachiana, Dec. et 

 Naud.) as varying into green, red, and purple fruit ; F. Breslingii 

 Duch., as having varieties with usually five lobed leaves ; F. elatior 

 as possessing a curled leaved form ; F. grandijiora as furnishing a 

 variegated leaved form ; and F. CJiiloensis as having red fleshed and 

 white fleshed fruit. Among the variations to be also noted is that 

 of losing all its leaves in winter ascribed to thei^. viridis, Weston, 

 (==F. vesca var. pratensis, L.) and the twice bearing habit of the 

 Alpines, (F. vesca^ L., var. a). 



The earliest cultivated variety with a distinct nomenclature 

 seems to be the Le Chapiron, of the Gallobelgians, a variety 

 with a large pale colored berry, so named by Lobel, in 1576, and 

 called by him Chapiton in the index to his " Icones," 1591. (The 

 Capiton of Tournefort, 1719, seems to correspond to the modern 

 Hautbois class.) The name Le Capiton occurs also in the " Hortus 

 Regius Parisiis," 1665. It is quite probable that the Caprons 

 mentioned by Quintinye in 1672, is the same or a similar variety, 

 as both kinds are to be referred to Fragaria elatior, Ehrh. 



The first mention that I find of the cultivation of the various 

 classes of the strawberry may best be placed under the titles of 

 the ascribed species, in part neglecting probable synonymy, and 

 neglecting all introductions not preceding the nineteenth century. 



