Geranium_gem's Garden
Wood strawberries
Genus: Duchesnea.
Species: Duchesnea indica.
Known as wood strawberries, mock strawberries, Indian strawberry, Indian mock strawberry, Duchesnea indica.
Have yellow flowers (5 petals) rather than the white flowers of wild strawberries which can be eaten.
Wood strawberries are not poisonous, but do not taste good either.
Member of the rose family (Rosaceae).
Forms colonies rapidly by sending out runners.
It resembles Wild Strawberry, except that its flowers are yellow, rather than white, and the trifoliate leaves are lower-growing and smaller in size. While the drupes of Wild Strawberry tend to hang downward (with the reddish green sepals above), the drupes of Mock Strawberry are held erect with the green sepals originating beneath each drupe. The ripened drupes of Wild Strawberry are juicy with a pleasant sweet-tart flavor, while the ripened drupes of Mock Strawberry are dry and bland. Some yellow-flowered Potentilla spp. (Cinquefoils) have compound leaves that resemble the foliage of Mock Strawberry, however they don't produce any drupes and their compound leaves often have 5 or more leaflets. Another common name for Duchesnea indica is Indian Strawberry, which refers to the nation of India.
