Duchesnea indica var. indica

Mock-strawberry

Family: Rosaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Mock-strawberry is a naturalized perennial ground cover found in the central California Coast, South Coast, and Sacramento Valley regions in disturbed areas at elevations generally below 500 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white flowers with four to eight millimeter obovate-oblong petals. Growing as a low-spreading ground cover with sparsely hairy stems, it forms dense mats that creep along the ground. Its basal leaves have three leaflets, with the central leaflet one to four centimeters long, elliptic to ovate in shape and short-stalked. The fruit is a small spherical reddish structure with tiny red achenes nestled across its surface, resembling a strawberry but lacking edible qualities.

Habitat: Disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: generally < 500 m

Bioregions: ScV, CCo, SCo

California counties: Butte, San Mateo, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, El Dorado

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.