Fragaria vesca L.
wood strawberry (woodland strawberry)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
wood strawberry (woodland strawberry)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Photograph
© Gary Ansell (Photo ID #13049)
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a fibrous root and short, thick rhizome, with long, leafless runners; stems trailing, rooting at the nodes; runners, leaf stalks and flower shoots greenish or very lightly tinged with reddish purple, lightly to densely hairy.
Leaves:
Basal in rosettes, palmately compound, on stalks 3-12 cm long; leaflets 3, elliptic to egg-shaped, more or less unstalked, 1-3 cm long, the lower surface pale and fine-hairy underneath, the upper surface yellow-green and nearly smooth, the margins strongly toothed with the terminal tooth projecting beyond the adjacent lateral ones.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open cluster of 3 to 15 stalked flowers atop axillary, leafless, shoots that are usually longer than the leaves at maturity; corollas white, the petals 5, egg-shaped, 5-10 mm long; calyces silky-hairy, 5-lobed, the lobes (sepals) 4-5 mm long, alternating with narrowly elliptic bractlets about as long as the sepals; ovaries superior; stamens about 20.
Fruits:
Strawberries, hemispheric, about 1 cm wide, covered with achenes; achenes 1.3 mm long, partly sunken in the fleshy receptacle.
Notes:
Two varieties with overlapping ranges occur in BC:
1. Flowers to 1.5 cm across; achenes not sunken; leaf-stalks with appressed-ascending hairs; flower-shoots rarely with a leafy bract below inflorescence..................... var. americana Porter
1. Flowers to 2 cm across; achenes in shallow pits; leaf-stalks with spreading or reflexed hairs; flower-shoots commonly with a leafy bract below inflorescence..................... var. bracteata (Heller) R.J. Davis
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Fragaria vesca
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
929 | 10 | 2854 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
26 | 0 | 240 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
200 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
1560 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
IDF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(2), BG(2), BWBS(32), CDF(18), CWH(120), ESSF(85), ICH(462), IDF(472), MH(1), MS(106), PP(11), SBPS(17), SBS(144), SWB(2) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Dry to moist open forests, sandy fields, clearings and meadows in the lowland to subalpine zones; common in S BC south of 53degreeN, rare northward; N to NT, E to NF and S to CA, NM, MO and VA.Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Fragaria americana (Porter) Britton
Fragaria vesca var. americana Porter
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 |