Fragaria vesca

Wood strawberry, Wood Strawberry

Family: Rosaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Wood strawberry is a native perennial found in northwestern California, the California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, central western California, San Bernardino Mountains, and Peninsular Ranges in partially shaded forest habitats at elevations of 15 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from January to July, this plant produces white flowers approximately 15 millimeters wide with delicate petals. Growing with slender stems 3 to 15 centimeters tall, it spreads with thin stems that create a low, spreading growth pattern. Its leaves are compound with three leaflets, each 15 to 70 millimeters long, widely elliptic-obovate with 12 to 21 sharp or blunt teeth along the margins, and sparsely hairy on top surfaces. The small bright red fruits are sweet and delicate, emerging from a receptacle 5 to 10 millimeters long.

Habitat: Generally partial shade in forest

Bloom period: Jan-Jul

Elevation: 15-2000 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, CW, SnBr, PR

California counties: Tuolumne, Riverside, Santa Cruz, El Dorado, Tulare, San Bernardino, Sonoma, Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Nevada, Calaveras, Marin, Fresno, Butte, Siskiyou, Shasta, San Francisco, Yuba, Humboldt, Trinity, Plumas, Sierra, Santa Clara, Del Norte, Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, Lake, San Diego, Mariposa, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Placer, Lassen, Madera, Los Angeles, Inyo

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