The Accidental Origin of Modern Strawberries

The modern strawberry is often assumed to be a fruit with ancient roots. However, the large, sweet berry enjoyed globally has a recent and accidental history. Unlike fruits cultivated for millennia, the garden strawberry’s existence is the result of a chance encounter between plants from two continents just a few centuries ago. This crossing gave rise to the fruit that is now a familiar fixture in markets and gardens.

Wild Ancestors of the Strawberry

Before the modern strawberry, available fruits were much smaller but intensely flavored. In Europe, the woodland or alpine strawberry, Fragaria vesca, was the primary species consumed. First cultivated by the French in the 1300s, these berries were appreciated for their taste and aroma but were very small. This was the strawberry known to medieval Europeans and ancient Romans.

Across the Atlantic, North America had its own native species, the Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana). This wild variety was slightly larger than its European counterpart and was noted for its pleasant flavor. After European colonists encountered them, specimens were transported to France in the early 1600s. For a time, these two species, F. vesca and F. virginiana, represented the strawberry world.

The Chilean Strawberry’s Journey to Europe

In the early 18th century, French engineer Amédée-François Frézier was on a mission in Chile. He observed the local people cultivating a strawberry species, Fragaria chiloensis, that was notable for its substantial size. This fruit far exceeded any variety known in Europe at the time.

Frézier transported live plants to France in 1714, with only five surviving the long sea voyage. While large, these Chilean strawberries were pale and lacked the strong flavor of other varieties. The plants he brought back were also all female, a detail that became very important.

Creation of the Modern Garden Strawberry

Frézier’s Chilean strawberry plants were planted in Brittany near beds of the Virginia strawberry, Fragaria virginiana. Because Frézier’s F. chiloensis plants were all female, they could not produce fruit on their own. They required pollination from another strawberry species to do so.

The nearby Virginia strawberries served as the pollinators, resulting in an unintentional cross-pollination that produced a new hybrid. This new plant, Fragaria × ananassa, combined the large fruit size from its Chilean parent with the red color and flavor of its Virginian parent. This accidental creation is the direct ancestor of nearly all modern strawberries.