Strawberry

“Fragaria virginiana, commonly called wild strawberry, is a ground-hugging herbaceous perennial that typically grows to 4-7” tall but spreads indefinitely by runners (stolons) which root to form new plants as they sprawl along the ground, often forming large colonies over time. It is native to woodland openings, meadows, prairies, limestone glades and cleared areas including roadsides from Newfoundland to Alberta south to Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. Each trifoliate leaf has three coarsely toothed leaflets (each leaflet to 2 1/2” long), with each leaf appearing on a slender stalk (to 6” long). Five-petaled white flowers (to 3/4” across) with numerous yellow-anthered center stamens bloom in April-May in flat umbel-like clusters (4-6 flowers each) located separate from and below the leaves on stalks that do not exceed the length of the leaf stalk. Flowers give way to achene-dotted ovoid fruits (strawberries) which mature to red in a much smaller size (to 1/2” and across) than fruits produced by cultivated strawberry plants. Seeds are embedded in the pits of the strawberries. Wild strawberries have a sweet tart flavor. Botanically, the achenes are the true fruits and the red strawberries are actually false fruits (enlarged flower receptacles).

“Cultivated strawberries found in stores are hybrid crosses between F. virginiana (native to North America) and F. chiloensis (native to western coastal South America including Chile) which combine the excellent taste of the former with the larger fruit size of the latter.

“Historically, many plants in this genus were mulched with straw in order to combat the possible onset of fungal diseases, hence the common name of strawberry.” (MBG)