The Botanical Magazine/Volume 2/63

by William Curtis

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[63] Fragaria monophylla. One-Leaved Strawberry, or Strawberry of Versailles.

Class and Order.

Icosandria Polygynia.

Generic Character.

Calyx 10-fidus. Petala 5. Receptaculum feminum ovatum, baccatum, deciduum.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

FRAGARIA monophylla foliis simplicibus. Lin. Syst. Veg. p. 476. Le Fraisier de Versailles. Duchesne Hist. nat. des Frais, p. 124.

N^o63

The first mention made of this Strawberry, we find in Duchesne's Histoire naturelle des Fraisiers, where we have its complete history, and from which we learn, that it was originally raised by him at Versailles, in the Year 1761, from seeds of the Wood Strawberry.

From France this plant has been conveyed to most parts of Europe; how it has happened we know not, but it is certainly very little known in this country: in the 14th edit of the Syst. Veg. of Linnæus, it appears as a species under the name of monophylla, originally imposed on it by Duchesne; Linnæus, however, has his doubts as to its being a species distinct from the vesca, and, in our humble opinion, not without reason; for it can certainly be regarded as a very singular variety only; its origin indeed is a proof of this; in addition to which we may observe, that plants raised from the runners will sometimes, though very rarely indeed, have three leaves instead of one: and it is observed by the very intelligent author of the Hist. nat. abovementioned, that seedling plants sometimes produced leaves with three divisions, like those of the Wood Strawberry. Besides the remarkable difference in the number of the leaves in this plant, the leaves themselves are observed to be much smaller in the winter season, and their ribs less branched; the runners also are slenderer and more productive, and the fruit in general more oblong or pyramidal. As an object of curiosity, this plant is deserving a place in every garden of any extent; nor is its singularity its only recommendation, its fruit being equal to that of the finest Wood Strawberry, with which it agrees in the time of its flowering, fruiting, and mode of treatment.