Strawberry hull apricot hull raspberry

Fragaria elatior rotunda and Fragaria elatior favosa - Apricot Capron Strawberry and Raspberry Capron Strawberry

In 1808, an unexpected discovery revolutionized the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. For twenty years, a mysterious strawberry plant cultivated in the fruit tree school had produced no fruit.

Pierre-Antoine Poiteau, a meticulous botanist, then reorganized the collection and introduced the male Capron and the royal Capron. The same year, the sterile strawberry plant was covered with perfect fruits: it was the Raspberry Capron, whose female flowers were simply waiting to be fertilized to reveal their splendor.

Caprons form a unique family of strawberry plants with identical foliage, difficult to differentiate when not fruiting. Most bear exclusively female flowers, dependent on the pollen of the male or royal Capron to produce their berries.

The Apricot Capron is recognized by its round or ovoid fruit, 2 to 3 centimeters in size, brown-red when ripe, with prominent seeds that lie on the surface without sinking in. Its firm flesh is reminiscent of the common Capron. The Raspberry Capron, on the other hand, has seeds lodged in deep dimples where the flesh gently swells.

Lighter red in color, its melting texture releases winey aromas and a characteristic raspberry scent. Generous, it often offers a second harvest in October.

This plate is taken from the Traité des Arbres Fruitiers by Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin, a botanical encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, a major reference in 19th-century naturalist illustration.

It combines the rigor of scientific drawing with a rare artistic sensitivity, characteristic of the great plates from the golden age of illustrated botany.