Virginia strawberry
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Fragaria virginiana Duchesne
Common name(s): Virginia strawberry, wild strawberry, common strawberry
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- shade leaves can become large
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- mid-June
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- in fruit, mid-June
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- flowers/fruit are usually no taller than leaves
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- fruit has imbedded seeds
Description:
– perennial
– generally flowers spring to June in Maine
-herbaceous
– fruits June, July
-Stout crown formed at ground level
Leaves are:
- leaf stalks 2″-6″ long,
- hairy
- three oval serrated leaflets.
-Flowers are:
- white
- 5 petaled
- 1/2″-1″ wide usually no taller than leaves.
-Fruit is red, round and juicy with seeds deeply embedded in the flesh.
– three subspecies, and also may be confused with F. vesca; see Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-full sun
-forests
-roadsides
-meadows and fields
Source(s):
Haines, A., Farnsworth, E., Morrison, G., & New England Wild Flower Society. (2011). New England Wildflower Society’s Flora Novae Angliae: A manual for the identification of native and naturalized higher vascular plants of New England. Framingham, MA: New England Wild Flower Society. p. 789.
Hansen, R.W., S.B. Hansen and E.A. Osgood. 1991. Reproductive phenologies of selected flowering plants in eastern Maine forests. ME Agric. Exp. Station Tech. Bull. 143. 17 pp.
Anderson, Kat M. “Plant GuidePlant Materials Plant Fact Sheet/Guide Coordination Page National Plant Data Center MOUNTAIN STRAWBERRYFragaria Virginiana Duchesne.” Plant Guide, USDA NRCS, 2006, plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_frvi.pdf.