ROSE FAMILY 



ROSACEAE 



WILD STRAWBERRY 



Fragaria virginiana Duchesne 



The several varieties of garden Strawberries that 

 we prize so highly have been derived from crossing a 

 Chilean species with our native forms. The wild berries 



are smaller but 

 fully as delicious 

 as the cultivated. 



The Wild Straw- 

 berry is common in 

 fields and along road- 

 sides and railroads in 

 the northern middle 

 west, blooming from 

 April to June. The 

 hairy leav^es, flower- 

 ing shoots and run- 

 ners grow from the 

 end of a simple, short 

 underground stem. 

 The dark green leaf- 

 lets are rather thick 

 and firm. 



The calyx is deep- 

 ly 5-cleft and has a 

 bract in each sinus which appears to double the parts and make 

 the flower seem lo-cleft. The 5 petals are white and the numerous 

 stamens are orange-yellow. The fleshy receptacle forms the 

 green cone-shaped center of the flower, and is covered with 

 numerous pistils. It is the receptacle which enlarges to become 

 the red edible berry; the seedlike structures on the surtace ot the 

 berry are individual fruits, each an akene. 



Another form of this Wild Strawberry, Fragaria I'irginiana 

 Duchesne var. il 11710 ens is (Prince) Gray, is coarser and larger, with 

 flower scapes and pedicels densely covered with spreading or 

 widely diverging hairs. The fruit is quite apt to have a pro- 

 nounced neck. 



The Hill Strawberry, Fragaria I'esca L. var. americana Porter, 

 is common in open rocky woods. Its leaves are much smaller and 

 thinner, its runners much longer and more slender, and its smaller 

 fruits are less juicy and mounted on a dry tasteless neck. 



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