INDIA STRAWBERRY
Potentilla indica
ROSE FAMILY (Rosaceae)
Identification
- Flowering time - April, May, June, July, August, September
- Common along floodplain and upland trails at FF and NW
- Low, creeping plant with red berries
- Flower with 5 petals and 5 pointed sepals
- Groups of 3 leaflets
This creeping plant, a native of Asia, was introduced as an ornamental ground cover. It promptly escaped cultivation and is now widely distributed across North America. The leaves and fruit are strawberry-like, but the flowers are bright yellow (B). The leaves have 3 heart-shaped and bluntly toothed leaflets (A,C). The flowers have 5 yellow petals, backed up by 5 pointed sepals (B). The fruit is a bright red berry, 1/2 inch plus in diameter, which breaks up after it matures (D,E); unlike the true strawberry it is rather dry and tasteless.
Common on floodplain and upland trails, flowering from April through September. This plant had not been recorded in Fontenelle Forest before 1990, but it has spread rapidly in recent years.
This attractive ground-cover plant blooms and produces fruit during most of the summer months.
Other common names are Mock Strawberry and False Strawberry.
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