Potentilla indica var. microphylla (T.T.Yu & T.C.Ku) H.Ohashi
Potentilla trifida Pall.
Potentilla indica, known commonly as mock strawberry,[2]Indian-strawberry,[3] or false strawberry,[4] often referred to as a backyard strawberry, mainly in North America, is a
flowering plant in the family
Rosaceae.[1][5] It has foliage and an aggregate
accessory fruit similar to that of a true
strawberry. It has yellow
flowers, unlike the white or slightly pink flowers of true strawberries. It is native to eastern and southern
Asia, but has been introduced to many other areas as a
medicinal and an
ornamental plant, subsequently
naturalizing in many regions worldwide.[1][5][6][2]
Many sources consider this plant part of the genus Potentilla[1][7][3][5][8][9][10][11] due to evidence from chloroplast genetic sequence data that the genus Duchesnea is included within Potentilla,[12] though some still list it as Duchesnea indica.[13]
Description
The leaves are
trifoliate, roughly veined beneath, dark green, and often persisting through the winter, arising from short crowns. The plant spreads along creeping
stolons, rooting and producing crowns at each node. The yellow flowers are produced in mid spring, then sporadically throughout the growing season. The aggregate accessory fruits are white or red, and entirely covered with red
achenes, simple ovaries, each containing a single seed.[14][15]
Blossom
Immature fruit
Mature fruits
Uses
The fresh berries are edible but considered less palatable than proper strawberries.[16][17]
^Brouillet L, Desmet P, Coursol F, Meades SJ, Favreau M, Anions M, Bélisle P, Gendreau C, Shorthouse D, et al. (2010).
"Potentilla indica". data.canadensys.net. Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN). Retrieved 1 May 2020.
^Weakley, Alan S. (2018), Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, working draft of 20 August 2018, University of North Carolina Herbarium, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
^Reznicek, A. A.; Voss, E. G.; Walters, B. S., eds. (February 2011).
"Potentillaindica". Michigan Flora Online. University of Michigan Herbarium. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
^Torsten Eriksson; Malin S. Hibbs; Anne D. Yoder; Charles F. Delwiche & Michael J. Donoghue (2003). "The Phylogeny of Rosoideae (Rosaceae) Based on Sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacers (ITS) of Nuclear Ribosomal DNA and the trnL/F Region of Chloroplast DNA". Int. J. Plant Sci. 164 (2): 197–211.
doi:
10.1086/346163.
S2CID22378156.