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Fragaria vesca
Also called Woodland Strawberry, Alpine Strawberry, European Strawberry, Wood Strawberry, Hillside Strawberry, Thin Leaved Wild Strawberry
Wild strawberry is a low perennial woodland plant that spreads by runners and produces small, strongly flavored edible fruit. It grows best in partial shade with moist, well-drained soil.
Fragaria vesca, commonly called the woodland strawberry, Alpine strawberry, wild strawberry, Carpathian strawberry or European strawberry, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the rose family that grows naturally throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, and that produces edible fruits.
The Latin specific epithet vesca literally means "thin" or "feeble", but likely carries the sense "edible" in this context (compare vescor, "to eat").
Evidence from archaeological excavations suggests that Fragaria vesca has been consumed by humans since the Stone Age.
Woodland strawberry fruit is strongly flavored, and is still collected and grown for domestic use and on a small scale commercially for the use of gourmets and as an ingredient for commercial jam, sauces, liqueurs, cosmetics and alternative medicine. In Turkey, hundreds of tons of wild fruit are harvested annually, mainly for export.
F. vesca contains the ellagitannin agrimoniin which is an isomer of sanguiin H-6.
Typical habitat is along trails and roadsides, embankments, hillsides, stone- and gravel-laid paths and roads, meadows, young woodlands, sparse forest, woodland edges, and clearings. Often plants can be found where they do not get sufficient light to form fruit. In the southern part of its range, it can grow only in shady areas; further north it tolerates more sun. It is tolerant of a variety of moisture levels (except very wet or dry conditions). It can survive mild fires and/or establish itself after fires.
Strawberry · Fragaria ×bringhurstii · Cascades strawberry · Beach strawberry · Fragaria daltoniana · Fragaria emeiensis · Fragaria iinumae · Fragaria iturupensis · Musk strawberry · Fragaria moupinensis · Huangmao Strawberry · Fragaria nipponica
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Fragaria vesca 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.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
