While several strawberry species are native to North America, the large garden strawberry found in stores today has a distinct global history. Its lineage traces back to wild ancestors and a journey across continents.
North America’s Indigenous Strawberries
North America is home to several indigenous strawberry species, each with unique characteristics and habitats. Among the most prominent is Fragaria virginiana, often called the Virginia or wild strawberry. This perennial plant is widely distributed across much of the United States and southern Canada, thriving in diverse environments such as disturbed habitats, meadows, and along the shores of rivers and lakes. It grows as a ground-hugging plant, spreading extensively through runners, which are horizontal stems that root to form new plants.
The Virginia strawberry produces small, roundish fruits that are highly flavorful. Its five-petaled white flowers bloom in spring, attracting various pollinators. Indigenous peoples across North America historically utilized Fragaria virginiana for both food and medicinal purposes.
Another native species is Fragaria chiloensis, known as the beach or Chilean strawberry. This evergreen plant is found along the Pacific coasts of North and South America, stretching from Alaska down to Chile. It is well-adapted to coastal environments, growing in sandy soils and tolerating salt spray.
Fragaria chiloensis features thick, glossy green, trifoliate leaves and produces white flowers in spring. The fruits of this species are small but flavorful and were traditionally cultivated by indigenous populations in Chile for centuries due to their notable size compared to other wild varieties. Both Fragaria virginiana and Fragaria chiloensis are octoploid, meaning they possess eight sets of chromosomes.
The Global Journey of the Garden Strawberry
The modern cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa, is not native to any single region but is a hybrid resulting from a cross between two American species. It arose from the accidental hybridization of the North American Fragaria virginiana and the South American Fragaria chiloensis.
This event occurred in Europe, specifically in Brittany, France, during the 1750s. French explorer Amédée-François Frézier brought specimens of Fragaria chiloensis from Chile to France in 1714. These Chilean plants, known for their larger fruit size, were then interplanted with Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America, a species prized for its fine flavor. Cross-pollination between these two species, facilitated by bees, led to the spontaneous creation of Fragaria x ananassa.
Botanist Antoine Nicolas Duchesne documented this hybridization process in the mid-18th century. The resulting hybrid combined the traits of both parents: the hardiness and flavor of Fragaria virginiana with the larger fruit size of Fragaria chiloensis. This new hybrid, also an octoploid like its parent species, gained popularity due to its superior fruit characteristics.
Over time, Fragaria x ananassa replaced the smaller, previously cultivated woodland strawberries and became the globally dominant commercial strawberry. Extensive breeding efforts in subsequent centuries further refined this hybrid, leading to the hundreds of varieties known today, characterized by their large, sweet, red fruits.