Strawberry in Herbal

A Strawberry Plant in Three Herbals

The two drawings above are separated by several hundred years: the right-hand version is clearly a copy of a copy ... of a copy of the left-hand version. Note that the overall design is almost identical, but incremental changes have made it look less like a strawberry. Along the way, extra clusters of berries has been added to the runners on the right, and the stipules have become more numerous and over-emphasized. The clusters of fruits more closely resemble those of blackberries. Compare these with the more modern drawing below.

Fragaria vesca

Upper figures © 1963 Gordon Ratray Taylor; Text commentary © 2021 Steven M Carr