wild strawberries

Starwberries used to be grown around here several decades ago and I still find these wild ones growing around my house. Here is a picture of them growing in my monkey grass. Anybody else have them?

Those aren't escapees from strawberry cultivation, although they are an awful exotic alien invasive. You've got duchesnea indica -- Indian (as in the subcontinent) strawberry. Awful, awful weed. I battle it continually. Adding insult to injury, the fruit isn't even remotely edible.

http://www.invasive.org/browse/subimages.cfm?sub=10101

Well I learn something new everyday. I thought they were the offspring of the old regular strawberries.

Way to go MaryMD7! You hit that one on the nail!

I had those in TN, I hated them. They spread by runners and seeds. Thankfully they do not seem to grow in South Texas!

OK, so, how do I get them out of my lawn!!???

Just take a little weeder V tool and get beneath the crown and pull it out.

I have them in my yard as well.. I ate one, it was not sweet, but was not repulsive. Are they considered poisonous?

HELP! Do I have them too?

Yes.

OH my. And my husband thinks they look so sweet in this planter!

They may not be in Bayview Tx but I got 'em. Found them last summer around a power pole. Guess who delivered the seeds. They spread like wildfire and yes I tasted them too. No taste... boy are they scary. One more to battle. pod

This message was edited Jun 26, 2006 8:05 PM

We have wild strawberries here too. In fact the two local parks are called Strawberry Acres and Strawberry Homecoming park. These strawberries are tiny delicate things with flavor that is exquisitely and intensly strawberry. They are so small it would take a heck of a lot of picking to get a quart. They are highly prized and grow easily if left alone on sandy slightly acid soil. They pop up wherever lawns are mowed infrequently and no weed killer is used. They are easy to eradicate. Are you sure they were ripe when you tasted them? One thing about the wild variety is that one day they are too green to eat, the very next day they are ambrosia and the following day they are mush. I think that trait spurred hybridization.

Hey snapple, I think you might be referring to either Fragaria virginiana or Fragaria vesca. F. Both bloom white and their fruit is as described by you while Duchesnea indica blooms yellow.

As Eq says, our native little wild strawberries are most definately NOT duchesnea indica. These things will never taste good, trust me.

Ah Hah! Thank You Equil. A good reminder of why the Latin name for a plant is important, common names can be confusing and why I should read previous posts with more care. Incidentally strawberries are just finishing their season here and this year was an excellent crop. There is a major grower just a couple miles down the road. He hand delivers quarts to friends and neighbors every year. He is a very popular guy in these parts.

We used to have a neighbor who had a strawberry farm up one side of his driveway and a blueberry farm down the other side of his farm by a swamp. He had acres of strawberries and he would open up to the public and let people pick their own. When I was little, I was over playing with his daughter and she and I sat down and started gorging after having been reminded by her Mom to not eat too many or we'd get sick. Strawberries were expensive so my Mom never bought many and I was in heaven because having no limits was a big treat. I recall thinking just one more. I ate so many I had major stomach problems and was laid out flat in the field from stomach cramps. I'll never forget her Dad coming over by us and telling her that she should have stopped me from eating so many because she should have known what was going to happen and then she had major stomach problems. Can we say fallen on "deaf" ears? I didn't touch strawberries for a while but they're my favorite fruit to this day. The Fragaria spp. have a wonderful taste and I eat what I can get before the critters do. Ambrosia would be an understatement. The wild ones taste much better than store bought. I get all excited when I spot those little red jewels hugging my ground. By the way, the native blueberries have considerably more flavor than those that are store bought also.

I have these nasty little berries that taste like nothing and nothing eats them.

I got the story that decades ago people grew these but I doubted it at the time... and here I'm right after all.

I have them in my backyard. They're all over the place. Ugh.