The question of whether the strawberry found in grocery stores is native to America is complex. The large, bright red fruit cultivated globally, known as the garden strawberry, is a relatively modern plant that did not exist in the wild. Its origin involves a transatlantic journey and the unexpected meeting of two distinct species from the American continents. Understanding its heritage requires looking at the two wild species that contributed their unique traits to create the familiar fruit we enjoy today.
The Indigenous North American Species
One parent of the modern strawberry is truly indigenous to North America, often called the Virginia strawberry. This hardy perennial is found across a vast area, from Newfoundland down to Georgia and as far west as the Great Plains. Native American populations foraged and utilized it long before European colonization.
The North American wild strawberry is characterized by its small fruit size, which is significantly smaller than commercial varieties. It compensates for its size with a highly concentrated and intensely sweet flavor profile. This species was first transported to Europe in the early 17th century. The plant is an octoploid, possessing eight sets of chromosomes, a genetic feature crucial for later successful hybridization.
The Crucial South American Contributor
The second ancestor of the garden strawberry hails from the Pacific coasts of the Americas, known as the Chilean strawberry. This plant grew natively along coastal regions from Alaska down to the southern tip of Chile. Indigenous peoples like the Mapuche particularly cultivated the South American variety.
A French engineer and spy, Amédée-François Frézier, first brought specimens to Europe in 1714 after observing its unusually large fruit size in Chile. The Chilean strawberry provided the genetic material for size that the North American species lacked. This fruit was notably larger than the Virginia strawberry and possessed a firm texture, though its flavor was less sweet or aromatic than its northern counterpart. It was also an octoploid, sharing the same number of chromosome sets as its northern relative.
How the Modern Strawberry Developed
The creation of the garden strawberry, a hybrid species, occurred in Europe. Both the North American and South American wild species were cultivated in common gardens, particularly in France, during the early 18th century. This cultivation brought the two geographically isolated plants into close proximity.
The key breakthrough happened when the Chilean and Virginia strawberries cross-pollinated. The resulting offspring was a new, stable hybrid combining the best qualities of both parents. It inherited the large size and firm texture of the South American plant while retaining the intense flavor and cold-weather hardiness of the North American one.
French botanist Antoine-Nicolas Duchesne documented and named this hybrid in the 1760s, recognizing it as a cross between the two American species. He named it Fragaria x ananassa, referencing the fruit’s pineapple-like aroma. This new species was horticulturally superior, offering a commercially viable fruit that was large, sweet, and robust enough to transport. Because the hybrid was created in Europe from two American parents, the garden strawberry is not considered native to the American continents, even though its entire genetic makeup originates there.