Th BRITISH HERBAL 
\ 
STRAWBERRY. 
FRAGARITA. 
MP HE frawberry has three leaves on each footftalk; the flower confifts of five petals, and its 
is divided into ten unequal fegments. ; : : 
The flethy fabftance of the fruit is no character of this genus, for fome fpecies have it not. He 
Linneus feparates this with fome others from the reft of the clafs, arranging it among his 
icofandria, and placing it next the rofe and bramble. : Y : 
CO EL Meecates might lead us to fuppofe there was an alliance between the fruit of the 
Strawberry and bramble; and little genius’s might cavil at the placing it here among plants with 
naked feeds: but the diftinétions of nature are fufficiently correct if men will properly regard 
them: the bramble will then be found a berry-bearing fhrub 3 the frrawherry a naked feeded plant. 
‘A berry is a fruit which has the feed furrounded by a juicy matter, and enclofed ina fkin. Eaoh 
grain of the blackberry is therefore fuch ; but in the Strawberry the feeds are difpofed quite otherwife : 
They are neither furrounded by juice, nor covered with a fkin: they ftick naked on the outfide of 
the fruit. ay ; : 
In all the plants of this clafs the feeds adhere to fome fubftance at their bafe ; and in the prefent 
inftance that fubftance fometimes {wells out, and becomes flefhy : but the feeds are ftill naked, the fruit 
is no berry, and the plant belongs to this clafs. 
DeTgVaele sel: OS Nek 
x. Barren Strawberry. 
Fragaria frerilis. 
The root is thick, hard, covered with a brown- 
ith bark with a tinge of red, and edged with 
fibres. h 
The leaves ftand three on each footftalk ; and 
are of an oval figure, notched round the edges, 
and of a pale green: they are covered with a 
fhort, foft hair, and lie fpread on the ground, 
Their footftalk is two inches long, and has a 
couple of fmall membranes at its bafe. 
The ftalks are lender, fhort, and weak: they 
are hairy, and have each a leaf or two on them 
divided into three parts. 
Ufually there ftands but one flower on cach 
footftalk, and this is large, white, and ‘beautiful, 
Jj is compofed of five broad leaves, dented at the 
ends ; and has inits centre a tuft of fhort threads. 
It ftands in a fmall cup divided into ten parts at 
the edge. 
When the flower falls the feeds ripen in a little 
clufter. They are fmall, and have no pulpy mat- 
ter about them; but five of the divifions of the 
cup clofe over and defend them. 
It is very common in dry paftures and on ditch 
banks ; and flowers in April. 
The bark of the root, dried and powdered, rs 
excellent in diarrhoeas: a fcrupleisa dofe. This 
I write from experience ; others feem not to have 
confidered it as a medicine. 
DIVISION 
Te aga O 
3. Shrubby Strawberry. 
Fragaria frutefcens. 
The rootis long, woody, and edged with fibres, 
The leaves {tand on footftalks, three upon 
each, as in the common Strawbderry, and are large, 
oblong, and confiderably hairy. 
The ftalk rifes from the centre of the root, 
among the leaves, and is woody, firm, and two 
foot high. ‘Toward the top it divides into two or 
BRT T'S WS .P ECL p.S, 
J: Bauhine calls this {pecies Fragaria non fru- 
Sifera vel non vefca. CC. Bauhine, Fragaria 
Srerilis. 
2. Common Strawberry. 
Frogaria vulgaris. : 
The root is long, thick, of a reddifh brown, 
and edged with many fibres, 
The footftalks are three or four inches long ; 
and each fupports three leaves. Thefe are ob-~ 
long and broad, and ferrated; of a dark green 
on the upper fide, and whitith underneath. 
The ftalks are four or five inches high: they 
divide at the top, and fupport feveral flowers. 
Thefe are large and white: each confifts of five 
leaves, and has in its centre a great tuft of threads 
with yellow buttons. ; 
The fruit follows, and is a flefhy receptacle for 
the feeds : it is large, pulpy, and pleafant. The 
feeds are numerous, fmall, and tharp-pointed ; 
and they are fluck in the fides of the fruit, 
It is common in woods, and thence brought in- 
to gardens, where culture has made it affume va- 
rious forms. It alfo naturally differs in the fize 
of the fruit in different countries. 
The moft confiderable of thefe varieties are two: 
1. The plum-fruited frawberry 2 and, 2. The 
great-fruited firawberry of Chili, with Selby leaves. 
C. Bauhine has defcribed the firft, and Dillenius 
the latter of thefe as diftin&t fpecies ; but they are 
accidental variations. 
REIGN SPECIES, 
three parts, and {preads intoaround head: There 
are leaves like thofe which rife. from the root, at 
the infertions of thefe branches; and upon their 
tops ftand the flowers. \ 
Thefe are {mall and greenifh, much of the fame 
colour with the leaves, but of the form of the 
common firawberry flower. 
The. fruit is conic in fhape, and is partly red, 
partly green. The hairs that rife from the feeds 
are very rough, and alfo greenith, 
It 
