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XLIII. Upon the Variations of the Scarlet Strawberry 

 (Fragaria Virginiana) when Propagated by Seeds. By 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. §c. President. 



Read August 4, 1818. 



Th e gardens of Europe, in the opinion of our most eminent 

 botanists, have been indebted to America, for three distinct 

 species of esculent Strawberry : the Grandiflora, or Pine ; 

 the Chiloensis, or Chili ; and the Virginiana, or common 

 Scarlet ; the first being supposed to be a native of Surinam, 

 the second of Chili, and the third of Virginia ; and the ex- 

 ternal characters of the different kinds are as marked as those 

 of the congeners of other genera usually are. Nevertheless, 

 I believe all to be varieties only of one species ; for all may 

 be made to breed together indiscriminately, and I have found 

 that similar varieties may be obtained from the seeds of any 

 of them : and upon the same evidence, I consider the wild 

 Strawberry of Canada (supposed to have been introduced by 

 his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent), the Bath Scarlet 

 and the Black, and in short, all our large Strawberries, with 

 the exception of the Hautbois, to be varieties of the same 

 plant. 



The experiments requisite to ascertain the facts above 

 stated, necessarily occasioned the production of an immense 

 family of new varieties, of which my garden at present con- 

 tains not less than 400 ; some very bad, but the greater part 

 tolerably good, and a few, I think, very excellent. I have 



