Not to be confused with Waldsteinia fragarioides also called barren strawberry, or mock strawberry (Potentilla indica).

Potentilla sterilis
Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis).jpg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Potentilla
Species:
P. sterilis
Binomial name
Potentilla sterilis
(L.) Garcke[1]
Synonyms[1]

P. fragariastrum Ehrh. ex Pers.

Leaves resemble those of strawberries

Potentilla sterilis, also called strawberryleaf cinquefoil[2] or barren strawberry, is a perennial herbaceous species of flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe.

Description

The plant looks rather like wild woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), or a cultivated strawberry, but is a smaller plant, with smaller flowers, and it does not form fleshy fruit. After the petals have fallen from a flower no obvious fruit forms. The petals are usually well separated from one another, not overlapping as in Fragaria vesca. Another distinguishing feature, illustrated in the photograph at left, is that the terminal tooth of the leaflets is usually shorter than the adjacent teeth and the leaves are matt and darker green.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b Mabberley, D. J. (2002), "Potentilla and Fragaria (Rosaceae) reunited" (PDF), Telopea, 9 (4): 793–801, doi:10.7751/telopea20024018, archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-02
  2. ^ "Potentilla sterilis". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  3. ^ Stace, C. A. (2010). New Flora of the British Isles (Third ed.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. p. 257. ISBN 9780521707725.
  4. ^ http://www.bsbi.org.uk/Potentilla_sterilis_Crib.pdf


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