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The strawberry that is available commercially and commonly grown in gardens is a hybrid known as Fragaria x annanassa Duchesne (a cross between Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana). The former originates from Chile, and the latter, obviously first described from Virginia. In the northeastern U.S. there are two wild species, Fragaria virginiana (easily distinguished by the fact that the seeds are imbedded in the fruit), and Fragaria vesca (the wild European strawberry, but a northern temperate species, whose range includes northeastern N. America). It is easily differentiated from F. virginiana in that F. vesca’s seeds are on the surface of the fruit. See: Foster and Duke A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America, Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
There’s a compelling story behind the development of the modern strawberry. It was first described in the 1759 edition of Philip Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary (London). This hybrid was further developed in the garden of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne, son of the superintendent of buildings of King Louis XIV, and Louis XV. On July 6, 1764 Antoine Nicolas Duchesne presented a large-fruited strawberry hybrid he produced to King Louis XV. What’s remarkable is Duchesne was only 17 years old at the time. At age 19 he published the modern scientific names and descriptions of the genus Fragaria in L’Historie Naturelle des Fraisiers. His designations and descriptions are still in use today. Duchesne also made important early observations on plant breeding such as the separation of sexes in strawberries, and recorded the first observation of a spontaneous mutation in plants.
The definitive modern work on strawberries is George McMillan Darrow’s The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston (1966). Fortunately, this rather obscure title has been reprinted in entirety in an on line edition from the National Agricultural Library.
See our strawberry images at the following links: