About Fragaria moschata Duchesne
Fragaria moschata Duchesne, commonly called the musk strawberry or hautbois strawberry, is a species of strawberry native to Europe. Its French name hautbois strawberry is often anglicised as hautboy strawberry. The plants are hardy and can survive in many different weather conditions. They are cultivated commercially on a small scale, particularly in Italy. The fruit are small and round; they are used in the gourmet community for their intense aroma and flavour, which has been compared to a mixture of regular strawberry, raspberry and pineapple. Popular cultivated varieties include 'Capron' and 'Profumata di Tortona'. In the wild, musk strawberries grow to a limited extent in the forests of Central Europe, north into Scandinavia, and east into Russia. The musk strawberry grows along the edges of forests and requires moist and sheltered sites, since it does not tolerate temperature fluctuations. Musk strawberry has long been cultivated in parts of Europe. This species was the first strawberry of any sort with a named cultivar, which was Le Chapiron in 1576. By 1591, the cultivar was called Chapiton, then later Capiton. In the early 17th century an illustration of it appeared in the Hortus Eystettensis as fraga fructu magno. In 1672, Quintinye, gardener to Louis XIV, mentioned it as Capron. At the beginning of the 19th century, musk strawberries were the most common garden strawberry in Germany. Cultivation of musk strawberries is similar to that of garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) or alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca); the plants thrive in nutrient-rich soils. However, neither female plants nor hermaphroditic plants are self-fertile; they require pollen transfer from a male or a clone of a different hermaphroditic cultivar of the same species, which is usually achieved by insect pollinators. Registered cultivars are: 'Capron royal', hermaphrodite 'Askungen' (Truedsson), hermaphrodite 'Marie Charlotte' (Hans), hermaphrodite 'Bauwens', female 'Capron', female 'Profumata di Tortona', female 'Siegerland', female 'Cotta', male.
