Pineapple Fraisier

Fragaria grandiflora - Pineapple Strawberry

This is one of the most mysterious strawberries of the 19th century: celebrated by all, known by few, and so often confused with its Caroline or Bath cousins that Poiteau himself lamented its rarity around Paris.

Yet, the Pineapple Strawberry has an unmistakable distinctive feature: its pedicel, which thickens into a club shape as it approaches the fruit, a unique botanical characteristic among all strawberry varieties.

The Pineapple strawberry plant is recognized by its compact habit, less elongated than that of the Caroline variety. Its short, hairy petioles, often reddish at the base, bear large, oval leaflets, glaucous underneath and dark bluish-green on top, edged with rounded teeth ending in a fine reddish tip.

The floral stalks, short and hairy, produce flowers, the first of which sometimes have six or seven petals. After flowering, the fruiting pedicels bend and considerably thicken towards the fruit, a peculiarity unique to this species.

The fruit itself, a vivid scarlet red, is distinguished by its seeds nestled in deep indentations, rather than protruding. At full ripeness, in early June, its firm flesh and strong fragrance make it superior to the Caroline, even if the pineapple scent that gives it its name remains, according to Poiteau, "uncertain or inconstant."

This plate is taken from Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin's Traité des Arbres Fruitiers (Treatise on Fruit Trees), a botanical encyclopedia published between 1807 and 1835, a major reference for 19th-century naturalist illustration.

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