While walking in jungles, from late spring to early summer my kids and I seeking for delicate wild strawberries. My little son in his first experience was very excited and asked me “Mom, what does a wild strawberry plant look like?”.
I’m a horticultural adviser and my academic major is Plant Protection. Wild plant identification is one of my hobbies. I love tasting wild fruits, especially wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca). Despite their small size, they have an intense flavour. I think the smaller berries pack a lot of sweetness and aroma rather than large cultivated ones.
If you love the taste of wild strawberries but are concerned about mistaking them for their look-alike plants, join me in this to learn “what a wild strawberry plant looks like”. I will tell you about my experiences and all the things you need to identify wild strawberries. Keep reading.
If you are interested in identifying other berry plants such as blackberry or huckleberry, I discussed them in my other posts.
Come on start our journey with the leaves, before fruiting, they are the first features that attract your attention. Its dark green leaves are trifoliate (every leaf consists of three oval or elliptical leaflets) with serrated edges and slight texture on the surface. You see the leaves along the stems with an alternate arrangement.
Its small, white flowers give you hope that the delicious fruits will arrive soon. The flowers are around 1 centimetre in diameter with five petals and a yellow center. you find them on long, slender stalks that rise above the foliage.
And now, its flavorful fruits: The fruits of the wild strawberry plant look like cultivated ones but they are smaller (less than 2 centimetres in diameter). Its fruits are round or conical berries. You often find them in bright red when riper, although I’ve seen varieties of wild strawberries with darker or lighter shades.
Similar to cultivated strawberries, there are tiny seeds on the surface of the berries that give them a slightly rough texture. About the cultivated strawberries, I’ve planted these seeds and grown new plants but don’t have ever experienced it for wild varieties.
As you know the wild strawberry plant is a small perennial herb that typically grows close to the ground. Hence, another feature that you may spot is its Runners/ Stolons. Do you know what they are? Runners/ Stolons are thin, elongated stems that creep along the ground and let wild strawberries spread through them. However, the wild strawberries are not typically considered invasive plants.
If you look at them closely, you will spot nodes. A new plant can emerge from every node. So, runners are important for the propagation of wild strawberries and let them form dense colonies.
Do you know there is a wild strawberry look alike that you may confuse them? Duchesnea indica (also known as Indian strawberry or mock strawberry) is a wild strawberry look-alike but don’t be worried because it’s not poisonous.
Wild strawberries are native to many regions of North America, including the United States. while Duchesnea indica is not native to North America, it can be found in various regions of the USA, especially in the eastern and southeastern portions.
Here I want to tell you some of my experiences to distinguish them. the leaves of wild strawberries (Fragaria species) and Duchesnea indica are very similar, although I found the green leaves of wild strawberries darker with a matte texture, whereas Duchesnea indica leaves are lighter green and often have a glossy appearance.
I think the best way to distinguish between wild strawberries and Mock strawberry is their flowers and fruits. The wild strawberry’s flowers are often white with a yellow center while the Mock strawberry produces yellow blooms. In addition, wild strawberries have larger flowers.
About their fruits:
Another feature that can help you distinguish between wild strawberries and Mock strawberry is their Runners/ Stolons. I found the wild strawberry runners slenderer and tend to root at the nodes, while the runners of Mock strawberry (Duchesnea indica) are thicker and often do not root readily.
I think Free online tools can work well in plant identification if you use the best ones. The “House Plant Identifier” is one of the best that I tested it to identify various indoor and outdoor plants including trees, flowers, ornamental and wild plants. I find it well with high accuracy. It only takes 2 seconds to identify your intended plant (for example a wild Strawberry). Working with the “House plant identifier” is very easy and you can use it to identify plant diseases too.
It is one of the frequent questions that people often ask and its answer can be useful in identifying wild Strawberry plants. As a general rule, the Wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca) are smaller than cultivated strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa). I created a table that can be useful in this issue:
Wild strawberry plant’s size | |
Its height | 5 to 15 centimeters (2 to 6 inches) height |
Leaf Size | individual leaflets:
around 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters (1 to 3 inches) long around 1 to 2.5 centimeters (0.4 to 1 inch) wide |
Fruit Size | typically, less than 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) in diameter
in some varieties, reaching up to 2.5 centimeters (1 inch). |
I tried to answer “What does a wild strawberry plant look like?” By providing details of its appearance along with images of its leaves, flowers, and fruits. I also taught you how to distinguish wild strawberries from Mock strawberries (Duchesnea indica). Did you find this post useful for identifying wild strawberry plants? Do you know other features that can help us in this issue? please tell me about your experiences and share your knowledge with my readers below this page.
Hi, I’m Elaheh. My Academic major is plant protection, and houseplants are my expertise. As a houseplant lover, my house is full of indoor plants and it is my passion to take care of them. Hence, I’m here to share my knowledge and experience about growing healthy houseplants. I am also a plant protection advisor, so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.