Beach strawberry is a low, evergreen perennial of Pacific coastal sand dunes, and one of the two wild parents of the garden strawberry. It thrives in sun, sandy well-drained soil and dry conditions.
Family
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water moderately while establishing, then allow the top of the soil to dry between waterings; it tolerates drought.
Soil
Sandy, free-draining soil with some organic matter; tolerates poor, sandy soils.
Temperature
Mild temperate conditions; hardy to about -15 °C, protect from prolonged hard frost in pots.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic. Not toxic to cats or dogs (ASPCA).
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Bolivia, C. & S. Chile to S. Argentina
Climate
temperate
About
Fragaria chiloensis, the beach strawberry, Chilean strawberry, or coastal strawberry, is one of two species of wild strawberry that were hybridized to create the modern garden strawberry (F. × ananassa). It is native to the Pacific Ocean coasts of North and South America.
Where it grows
The plant's natural range is the Pacific Ocean coasts of North and South America, and also Hawaii, where it grows mostly on sand beaches above the tidal zone in temperate to warm-temperate regions. Migratory birds are thought to have dispersed F. chiloensis from the Pacific coast of North America to the mountains of Hawaii, Chile, and Argentina.
Uses
Its fruit is sold as a local delicacy in some South American produce markets.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Fragaria chiloensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.