Wild Strawberry

Fragaria virginiana

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) is a low native perennial of the rose family that spreads by red runners, with white five-petaled flowers followed by small, sweet red berries that have their seeds sunk in little pits. It blooms in May and June, the berries ripen from late June into July, and the Black Hills National Forest calls it common throughout the Black Hills.

Free photos from other sources

Wild Strawberry: White five-petaled flower with a yellow center among three-part toothed leaves — Wild strawberry - Fragaria virginiana. Neal Herbert (NPS, Yellowstone National Park), Public Domain. Get it at the source

Wild Strawberry: Flowers and a three-part leaf in pine litter — Fragaria virginiana. Brian Dickerson, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Wild Strawberry: Ripe red berries with the seeds sunk in small pits — Fragaria virginiana. Ayotte, Gilles, 1948- (Bibliothèque de l'Université Laval), CC BY-SA 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Wild Strawberry: Red runners spreading over gravel and rooting new plants — Fragaria virginiana. Ayotte, Gilles, 1948- (Bibliothèque de l'Université Laval), CC BY-SA 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Wild Strawberry: Leaves compared: Woodland Strawberry on the left, Wild Strawberry on the right — Comparison of two wild strawberries' leaves. Jason Hollinger, CC BY 2.0, resized. Get it at the source

Wild Strawberry: Leaflet tip with a short end tooth, smaller than its neighbors — Fragaria virginiana. Laura Holloway, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Quick facts
Family	Rosaceae · Rose
Status	Native perennial
Blooms	May and June, sometimes again in fall
Height	5–20 cm (2–8 in)
Where	Meadows, open pine and mixed forest, forest edges and roadsides
Also called	Virginia Strawberry, Common Strawberry, Mountain Strawberry, Thick-leaved Wild Strawberry, wažúšteča (Lakota)
Synonym	Fragaria virginiana var. glauca, Fragaria glauca, Fragaria ovalis, Fragaria virginiana var. ovalis, Fragaria pauciflora
Traditional use	Black Elk and Flying By's 1998 Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota (Sitting Bull College) lists wild strawberry under Fragaria vesca and says the Lakota ate the berries fresh or dried them for later. Gilmore (1919) records that the Dakota called June the moon when strawberries are red ripe.
Note	Black Hills plants are the western subspecies glauca.

Roots, seeds & germination

Root: A short crown with short rhizomes and shallow fibrous roots. It spreads mainly by thin, often red runners that root at every second node and start new plants, so one plant can become a patch within a season or two.

Seed: The true fruits are tiny achenes, 1.2–1.8 mm long, set in pits on the surface of the red berry, which is the swollen flower base. Seed is collected when the berries turn red in midsummer and cleaned by mashing the fruit in water so the pulp floats off.

Germination: The seed needs a cold, moist period before it sprouts: the Glacier National Park nursery protocol recommends at least 85 days, and Prairie Moon uses 60. Light helps, so the seed is barely covered, and most growers start new plants from rooted runners instead.

How do you identify Wild Strawberry?

Look for a low plant with three toothed leaflets, each 2.5–4 cm (1–1½ in) long, on hairy stalks, dark green to bluish green and fairly smooth. At the tip of the middle leaflet the end tooth is smaller and shorter than the teeth beside it. White flowers 1.5–2.5 cm (⅝–1 in) across, with five rounded petals around a yellow center, sit on stalks usually shorter than the leaves, and the round red berries have their seeds sunk in small pits. Woodland Strawberry, which also grows in the Hills, has a longer end tooth, thinner, yellow-green, puckered leaves, flower stalks above the leaves, and cone-shaped berries with the seeds on the surface.

When does it bloom?

May and June, sometimes again in fall.

Where does it grow?

Meadows, grassy openings in ponderosa pine and mixed pine, spruce and aspen forest, forest edges, trailsides, roadsides and disturbed ground, in sun to part shade. The Black Hills National Forest calls it common throughout the Black Hills, and GBIF holds 97 specimens, most from Lawrence and Pennington counties, with others from Custer, Fall River and Meade and from Crook and Weston counties in Wyoming. The National Park Service lists it at Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Mount Rushmore and Devils Tower.