Fragaria chiloensis

Beach strawberry

Family: Rosaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Beach strawberry is a California native perennial found in the northern and central Coast Ranges on ocean beaches and coastal grasslands at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from February to November, this plant produces white flowers 20 to 40 millimeters wide with delicate, rounded petals. Growing with low-spreading stems 5 to 20 centimeters long, it forms dense ground-covering patches. Its thick, leathery leaves have three leaflets with central leaflets 10 to 60 millimeters long, densely hairy underneath and featuring 7 to 11 rounded teeth above the middle of the leaf. The plant produces small, sweet strawberries with achenes nestled on a receptacle 10 to 20 millimeters long.

Habitat: Ocean beaches, coastal grassland

Bloom period: Feb-Nov

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo

California counties: Humboldt, Del Norte, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Sonoma, San Luis Obispo, Tulare, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Marin, Siskiyou, Ventura, Mendocino, Santa Clara

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