Chilean strawberry

Fragaria Chilensis - Chilean Strawberry

In 1712, a naval officer named Frézier discovered this extraordinary strawberry plant at the foot of the Cordillera, near Concepción, and brought it back to France.

Deposited in Brest, the Fragaria Chilensis naturalized there, producing the largest strawberries ever observed; some reaching the size of a hen's egg.

But this botanical treasure held a secret: Frézier had only brought back female plants. Without male flowers for fertilization, the Brest gardeners devised an audacious solution: planting Carolina strawberries between the rows to achieve "adulterous fertilization." This horticultural strategy made the Chilean Strawberry one of the most fascinating botanical curiosities of the 18th century.

The Chilean Strawberry is immediately recognizable: a thick, short stem, few, thick, silky, and whitish leaves with rounded leaflets. Its remarkably thick flower stalks bear large flowers with 6-10 petals instead of the usual 5.

The fruit, a yellowish-white washed with vermilion in the sun, has a glossy surface and seeds nestled in deep indentations.

Its firm, white, and slightly vermilion flesh releases a pleasant fragrance in favorable years. A unique feature: while all strawberry plants tilt their fruits towards the ground when ripe, this one stands them vertically.

A delicate cultivation, it requires well-drained clay-silty soil or heather soil, a southern exposure, and loses its leaves in winter; a rare behavior for strawberry plants.

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 naturalistic 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.