WILD, OR WOOD, STRAWBERRY 



673 



are hairy on the lower part ; flower-stem erect, branching, hairy, a 

 little taller than the leaves ; divisions of the calyx reflexed after 

 the flower has faded ; hairs on the flower-stalks adpressed ; fruit 

 small, pendent, rounded or conical in shape ; seeds prominent, and 

 extremely small. This species is common in the woods of the 

 whole northern hemisphere, and especially so in mountainous 

 districts. It has seldom been seen in gardens since the intro- 

 duction of the Red Alpine Strawberry. We must, however, 

 mention some forms of it which have been preserved up to the 

 present day in the neighbourhood of Paris, from an adherence to 

 old practices in the first instance, and also because the fruit of the 

 Wood Strawberry possesses a quite peculiar perfume and delicacy of 

 flavour. In low-lying districts its season lasts hardly a month, but 

 on the mountains, on account of the difference in the time of ripen- 

 ing at different altitudes. Wood Strawberries may be gathered from 

 June to September. 



Fontenay Early Small Strawberry. — A variety differing very 

 little from the Wood Strawberry. It is a very early kind, ripening 

 seven or eight days before the Red Alpine Strawberry. Fruit 

 small, round, and dark red when very ripe. The plant is not a 

 continuous bearer, and only produces fruit in spring. 



Montreuil Strawberry.— A very distinct variety, with rather 

 narrow, very light-coloured, folded leaves, which have a peculiar 

 appearance. The plant is vigorous and productive. Fruit of a 

 rather long, conical shape, but sometimes broad and of a cock's- 

 comb form, and dark red when well ripened, which occurs some- 

 what late, namely, about the end of June or early in July. This 

 variety is very productive, but it only bears once in the year. It 

 was raised in the neighbourhood of Montlhery by a horticulturist 

 named Montreuil, in the early part of the eighteenth century. 



The Fraise MonopJiylle, or F. de Versailles^ which has only a 

 single leaflet in each leaf, is another variety of the Wood Straw- 

 berry, raised by Duchesne, the author of the celebrated " Mono- 

 graphie du Fraisier." 



RED ALPINE STRAWBERRY 



Fragaria alpina, Pers. ; F. seviperflorens, Duch. 



♦ Fraisier des Alpes. 



Native of the Alps. — Perennial. — A very different plant from 

 the Wood Strawberry, and distinguished from it by the greater 

 size of all its parts — the fruit, in particular — and especially by 

 the property peculiar to it of producing flowers and fruit con- 

 tinuously all through the summer. The introduction of this Straw- 

 berry into cultivation is of no very distant date, as it was brought 



43 



