Potentilla indica known commonly as mock strawberry, Indian-strawberry, or false strawberry, often referred to as a backyard strawberry, mainly in North America, is a flowering plant in the family Rosaceae. 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. According to the FDA, “Mock, or Indian strawberries, while possibly less delicious than wild strawberries, do not produce toxicity when ingested”.
Many sources consider this plant part of the genus Potentilla due to evidence from chloroplast genetic sequence data that the genus Duchesnea is included within Potentilla, though some still list it as Duchesnea indica.
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.
The Potentilla indica, (poh-ten-TIL-ah inn-DEE-kuh) the India Strawberry, indeed has no flavor but it’s not a Southern speciality. It grows in Canada. In fact, it is found in most places except the Rocky Mountain states* and upper New England. Flavorless or not my cousins and I ate a lot of them.
On first glance the P. indica looks like you have found yourself a brilliantly red, juicy strawberry. And that is probably the public relations problem P. indica has. It’s not what people expect so a lot of commentators dismiss it as worthless, but that’s a bit unfair. The fruit is 3.4% sugar, 1.5% protein and 1.6% ash. It has 6.3 mg of Vitamin C per 100 ml of juice. An eight-foot patch will produce about 5.5 ounces fruit annually, about the same as wild strawberries, and you can cook the leaves as a green. Some folks think the fruit has a hint of watermelon flavor. Others say it is sour so there may be some genetic diversity there, either in the plant or our taste buds. There is certainly no harm adding some of the plant to your wilderness stew.
Be forewarned though, there is descent into negative exaggeration. Many sites state the fruit is edible but tasteless. Others translate “edible but tasteless” into “not suitable for human consumption.” Some translate “not suitable for human consumption” into not edible. Others translate “not edible” into poisonous. Ph.d, herbalist and researcher James Duke, addressed the issue specifically in his “Handbook of Medical Weeds.” He says the plant is “often described as ‘poisonous.’ I have eaten hundreds and find the word insipid more accurate.” As far back as 1914 author Harrison Garman, writing about weeds of Kentucky, said the berry was edible and “their appearance leading one to expect them to be more palatable.”
Indian Strawberry is considered a “mock strawberry” because it isn’t actually a strawberry.
From Eat The Weeds, “On first glance the P. indica looks like you have found yourself a brilliantly red, juicy strawberry. And that is probably the public relations problem P. indica has. It’s not what people expect so a lot of commentators dismiss it as worthless, but that’s a bit unfair. The fruit is 3.4% sugar, 1.5% protein and 1.6% ash. It has 6.3 mg of Vitamin C per 100 ml of juice. An eight-foot patch will produce about 5.5 ounces fruit annually, about the same as wild strawberries, and you can cook the leaves as a green. Some folks think the fruit has a hint of watermelon flavor. Others say it is sour so there may be some genetic diversity there, either in the plant or our taste buds. There is certainly no harm adding some of the plant to your wilderness stew.”
From Bellarmine University, “The entire plant is medicinal as an anticoagulant, antiseptic, depurative (purifier) and febrifuge (fever reducer). The herb can be used for stomatitis (an inflammation of the mucus lining), laryngitis, and acute tonsillitis. The fresh leaves can be crushed and applied externally as a medicinal poultice, a soft and moist mass. It is used in the treatment of boils and absesses, burns, weeping eczema, ringworm, snake and insect bites and traumatic injuries. A decoction of the leaves is medicinal and used in the treatment of swellings. An infusion, or liquid extract, of the flowers is used to activate the blood circulation. The Indian Strawberry can also cure skin diseases. In folklore it is said that in India it is to be used as an offering to the gods. The Wild Indian Strawberry is used extensively in China as a medicinal herb, and is being studied for its ability to stop the HIV virus and some forms of cancer from spreading through the body. “
So how do we grow Indian Strawberry?
Start Strawberry seeds for this rare ground cover plant that will get lots of attention! It is an Indian Strawberry plant with lovely yellow blooms, and it produces small red Strawberries all summer long on a creeping evergreen carpet. Indian Strawberry is well-suited for hanging over a wall or as a ground cover plant. Indian Strawberry ground cover is naturalized throughout the United States, and it is found growing in shady places in woods and grassy slopes. Indian Strawberry prefers a moist, but well-drained soil in a partially sunny position. Once Indian Strawberry plants are established, the matted root sends out runners to set new plants. Indian Strawberry leaves are light green and finely haired. Indian Strawberry flowers are small, yellow, and are 5 petaled. They first appear in April and will bloom throughout the summer until fall. The fruit is small, about 1/2 inch round. It is edible, but many say the taste is not noteworthy. Birds, however, love the red fruit. Another common name for this variety is Mock Strawberry ground cover.
For most of the US: Sow the Strawberry seeds from January to April indoors. Use quality seed starter mix, and small pots or starter trays. Sow the Wild Strawberry ground cover seeds on the surface and press the seed into the mix. Keep the soil damp but not wet, and seal the starter tray or pots inside a plastic bag until after germination. When the Strawberry seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant them into 3 inch pots, and grow them on in cooler conditions until large enough to plant outdoors. After all danger of frost has passed, harden the young Wild Strawberry plants over a period of 7 – 10 days before planting outdoors in their permanent location.
For Florida growers: Plant strawberries during the fall months–late September through October. Flower and berry growth begins in November; the harvest generally takes place in the months of April and May.