Fragaria virginiana Duchesne 

Virginia strawberry

Names and Myths

Fragaria Latin fraga strawberry a reference to the frequent fruits

Virginiana of Virginia

Strawberry may be based on either the English practice of bedding the plants on straw, or from the straying suckers the plant produces.⁹

Natural history / Folklore

Strawberry production has gone on since the 1800. Was eaten as a food plant by Native Indians long before the Europeans arrived in America.⁹ William Bartram traveling along the Tennessee river in the 1770’s noted large strawberry fields, where Cherokee’s were collecting baskets of berries.³⁹

Garden form is a hybrid of Chilean and North American varieties. They have been cultivated since the 16th century.³²

Description

Three toothed leaflets, edges of leaflets often bare drops of water early in the morning. White flowers, and small favorable red berries.