The Downton strawberry was the first of Thomas Andrew Knight's selections to draw attention to the merits of experimental crossing. One of 400 seedlings Knight raised from crosses in 1817, the Downton had large, oblong fruits and resembled the Chilean strawberry in many ways. Uncertainty about the Downton's parentage discouraged Knight from calling it a definite example of F. virginiana x F. chiloensis. (From Transactions of the Royal Horticultural Society, vol. 3, London, 1820)