coastal strawberry (Pacific beach strawberry)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Map
Distribution of Fragaria chiloensis subsp. pacifica
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Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a fibrous root and short, thick rhizome, with short, leafless runners; stems trailing, rooting at the nodes; runners, leaf stalks and flower shoots silky-long-hairy and reddish.
Leaves:
Basal in rosettes, palmately compound, on stalks 4-20 cm long; leaflets 3, egg-shaped, short-stalked, 1.5-4 cm long, thick, leathery, the lower surface strongly net-veined, pale and somewhat hairy, the upper surface green, smooth and wrinkled, the margins coarsely toothed with the terminal tooth shorter than its neighbours.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open cluster of 5 to 15 (20) stalked flowers atop axillary, leafless shoots 3-15 cm long, shorter than to slightly exceeding the leaves; corollas white, 2-4 cm across, the petals 5, egg-shaped to round, 8-16 mm long; calyces silky-hairy, 5-lobed, the lobes (sepals) lanceolate, 6-10 mm long, alternating with elliptic bractlets that are almost as long as the sepals; ovaries superior; stamens about 20.
Fruits:
Strawberries, hemispheric, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, hairy, covered with achenes; achenes about 2 mm long, slightly immersed in the fleshy receptacle.
Notes:
The garden strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne (a complex group of hybrids involving F. chiloensis and F. virginiana) is sometimes found as a garden escape in SW BC. Plants intermediate to F. chiloensis or F. virginiana have been called F. crinita Rydb. Two sympatric subspecies occur in BC:
1. Hairs on stems and leaf-stalks appressed.............. ssp. lucida (Vilm.) Staudt
1. Hairs on stems and leaf-stalks spreading.................... ssp. pacifica Staudt
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat and Range
Dry to mesic sand dunes and rocky coastal bluffs, just above high tide, in the lowland zone; frequent in coastal BC; N to AK and S to CA; disjunct to South America.Taxonomic Keys
1. Leaves thick, strongly veined beneath, wrinkled above; plants strictly maritime..............F. chiloensis
1. Leaves thin, not strongly veined beneath, not wrinkled above; plants generally distributed 2. Terminal tooth of leaflets usually surpassing the adjacent lateral ones; leaflets generally unstalked; fruiting shoots longer than the leaves................F. vesca 2. Terminal tooth of leaflets usually much narrower and shorter than adjacent lateral ones; leaflets short-stalked; fruiting shoots shorter than the leaves..............F. virginiana Source: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia |