Wild Strawberry is a
common creeping plant that grows in forests,
fields,
lawns, forest edges, roadsides, and streamsides (just about
anywhere). It can grow up to six inches tall, and its leaves
are split into three leaflets.
Each leaflet is 1 to 1
1/2 inches long and has teeth
on its edges. Petioles
are hairy.
Creeping plants, like
strawberries, have runners. Runners are stems which grow
sideways on the surface of the soil. As the runners grow,
they send up new strawberry plants.
Appalachian State
University
Delaware
Wildflowers
Wild Strawberries bloom
from April to June. Flowers
are 3/4 inch wide, with five white petals. The petals are
attached to a cone-shaped part of the flower. This cone
starts off yellow, then later becomes larger, thicker, and
redder. This is the "strawberry" part of the Wild Strawberry
plant, and it contains dry seeds.
Many animals eat
strawberry fruits, including Common Crow, Gray Catbird,
sparrows, Wild Turkey, Cedar Waxwing, Red-bellied
Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Northern Mockingbird,European
Starling, American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Virginia
Opossum, Striped Skunk, Eastern Chipmunk, Meadow Vole,
White-footed Mouse, and Eastern Box Turtle.
Birds and other animals
can help Wild Strawberry spread by pooping seeds out in new
places.
Animals that eat strawberry leaves
include Eastern Cottontail, White-tailed Deer, nematodes, mites,
slugs, stinkbugs, spittlebugs, weevils, and other insects . Wild
Strawberry flowers provide nectar
and pollen
for many insect species, including bees, flies, ants, and
butterflies. Some common species which use flowers for food include
Honey Bee, Golden Northern Bumble Bee, Eastern Tailed Blue, Cabbage
White, and Clouded Sulphur.
Strawberry is also excellent
cover
for small animals throughout the Spring and Summer. Toads,
salamanders, centipedes, spiders, and many insects can crawl and hide
among the leaves.
Wild Strawberry grows alongside
many plants, including violets, Poison Ivy, and most weeds
and grasses.
Wild Strawberry
fruits are considered delicious by many people. They are smaller than
store-bought strawberries, which are a hybrid (cross between) of Wild
Strawberry and an European species.
