Indian strawberry (Edible Plants on UC Berkeley Campus)

Indian strawberry

Potentilla indica

Description ¹

This introduced perennial plant consists of trifoliate basal leaves with long petioles that develop from a crown of roots. The petioles have appressed white hairs. Each blunt-tipped leaflet is broadly ovate or obovate, spanning about 1½" in length and 1" across. The middle leaflet is wedge-shaped at the base. The margins of these leaflets are coarsely crenate-serrate, and they have conspicuous pinnate venation. The upper leaflet surfaces are medium to dark green and hairless. Occasionally, light green to reddish purple stolons develop from the crown that are long and slender. They have appressed hairs and form new plantlets at their tips. The crown also produces one or more flowering stalks, each with a single flower. Each flower is about ¾" across, consisting of 5 yellow petals, 5 green sepals, numerous stamens with yellow anthers, and a central yellow receptacle with numerous pistils. The triangular sepals are about as long as the petals. Immediately underneath each flower, there are spreading bracts that are green and rectangular-shaped. Each bract has 3 teeth along its outer edge. The blooming period occurs from late spring to mid-summer and lasts about a month. Each flower is replaced by a bright red drupe about ½" across that is spheroid or ovoid in shape. There are small red seeds scattered across its rather bumpy surface. The sepals turn upward around the drupe. The drupes of this species have a bland flavor and dry texture. A colony of plants produces flowers and drupes sparingly, as most of the available energy is devoted to vegetative reproduction. The root system consists of crown with coarse secondary roots, which also produces stolons and possibly rhizomes. This species forms vegetative colonies readily. Cultivation

Distribution ²

Duchesnea indica is occurring in provinces S of Liaoning of China, Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Sikkim; naturalized in Africa, Europe, and North America.

Habitat ³

Growing in mountain slopes, meadows, river banks, wet places; below 1800 m.

Uses ⁴

Duchesnea indica is used medicinally.

Edible ⁵

The fruits of this plant are edible though not exactly pleasant to taste. The leaves can also be cooked and used as potherb.

Sources and Credits

More Info

Range Map

iNat Map

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