History of strawberries paper

The modern strawberry comes from two different continents—North America and South America. And they accidentally met and started producing a new type of strawberry on a third continent—Europe. This happened about 250 years ago, probably in a botanical garden in France.

In the 1500s, explorers brought one of the grandparents of the modern Strawberrie back to France from Virginia. This Virginia genotype got their attention because it had larger fruit and a deeper red color than the European strawberries of that time. And it produced more berries.

But it had to wait nearly 200 years for the other grandparent to arrive from South America.

In the early 1700s, a French spy spotted this strawberry genotype in Chile while he was making maps of Spanish forts. Plants of this genotype produced really big berries—larger than the she had ever seen—so she brought the strawberries back to France.

The trouble was, they didn't reproduce in France. Not until scientists called horticulturists (hor-ti-CUL-chur-ists) planted them next to the Virginia genotype.

It wasn't long before a new strawberry was born. The horticulturists named it Fragaria x ananassa.

To day Six scientists from the federal government, universities and a commercial strawberry grower are holding strawberry tryouts around the country. Each of the scientists is growing 20 to 40 of the best of the Virginia and Chile genotypes, looking for traits they want the most.Reference http://www.foodreference.com/html/a-strawberry-history.html

How its thought that straw berries got there name
It is thought that during Medieval times the strawberry got its name because a strawberry plants looks like it has berries strewn on the ground, and strewberry later became strawberry. Another legend indicates the name origin came from 19th century school children who picked the fruit and began stringing them on grass straws. The kids sold them as “straws of berries.” Another theory is that the name was derived from the 19th century practice of placing straw around the growing plants to protect ripening fruit.
Reference http://www.suite101.com/content/strawberries-history-and-health-benefits-a69530