Varietal Characteristics
The strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is the fruit of a perennial plant native to alpine areas of Europe, Asia and the Americas. Belonging to the Rosaceae family, this fruit is known for its intense fragrance and sweet taste, growing wild in forests. Interestingly, the strawberry is a false fruit, as it is the enlarged receptacle of an inflorescence. The strawberry plant reproduces not only through seeds, but also vegetatively through stolons, side branches that root and form new heads, clones of the mother plant. The wild strawberry, the progenitor of the modern strawberry, is still widespread in our forests with its small, highly aromatic fruits. Strawberry cultivation dates back to the 18th century in France, started by a gardener for the Sun King who selected larger and hardier varieties of strawberries. Strawberries grown until the 18th century were derived from European and North American species, but later they were hybridized with South American varieties, from which all modern varieties are descended.
