Strawberry
a well-known fruit and plant of the genus Fragaria, natural. order Rosaceæ. It is remarkable for the manner in which the receptacle, commonly called the fruit, increases and becomes succulent; but the true fruit is the small seeds or achenes on the surface of the receptacle. The species are per- STRAWBERRY ennial plants throwing out runners which take root and produce new plants; they are natives of temperate and cold climates in Europe, America, and Asia.
The following species afford the varieties of cultivated strawberries: (1) Wood strawberry (F. vesca), found wild in the woods and on hillsides throughout Europe, and now cultivated in gardens, as the red, the white, the American, and Danish Alpine strawberries. (2) The Alpine strawberry (F. collina), a native of Switzerland and Germany. The varieties of strawberries called green are the produce of this species. (3) Hautbois strawberry (F. elatior), a native of North America. (4) Virginian strawberry (F. virginiana or caroliniana), a native of Virginia. To this species belongs a great list of sorts cultivated in gardens, and known by the name of scarlet and black strawberries. (5) Largeflowered strawberry (F. grandiflora) is supposed to be a native of Surinam, and to have furnished our gardens with the sorts called pine strawberries. (6) Chile strawberry (F. chilensis), a native of Chile and Peru, and the parent of a number of mostly inferior strawberries.
The strawberry is propagated by seeds, by division of the plant, and by runners.
Most of the strawberry plants in the United States are grown by runners.