FRAGARIA VIRGMANA-AMERICAN STRAWBERRY 



CLASS, ICOSANDR1A ; ORDER, POLYGYNIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, ROSACES. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx ten cleft. Petals five. Receptacle of the 



seeds ovate, and like a berry. SPEC. CHAR. Calyx of the fruit 



spreading. Petioles covered with erect hairs. Peduncles, pressed* 

 Leaves whitish, green on the upper surface. 



This is an herb with three parted leaves, and a pair of large 

 membranous appendages at the base of the leaves. The veins of 

 the leaves are netted. When the Strawberry plant is about, to 

 multiply itself, it puts forth naked shoots of two sorts ; one of them 

 is prostrate on the ground, and ends in a tuft of leaves which root 

 into the soil, thus forming a new plant; or as it is technically 

 termed, a runner ; the other kind of shoot grows nearly erect, and 

 bears at its end a tuft of flowers which afterwards becomes fruit ; 

 or at least what is commonly called so. Tyas remarks that an 

 illustrious French writer, conceived the design of compiling a 

 general history of nature, in imitation of the ancients and some 

 moderns. A strawberry plant, which chanced to grow by his 

 window, dissuaded him from the design. On minutely observing it, 

 he discovered so much to learn and admire even in the Strawberry, 

 that he felt convinced the study of a single plant, with its habits, 

 would suffice to employ the lives of many learned men. He" 

 therefore abandoned his design, and wrote a book entitled Studies 



