Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicots

Order: Rosales

Family: Rosaceae -- rose

Variety: var. platypetala is the Palouse phase.

Common Name: broadpetal strawberry

Species Code: FRVI

Origin: Moist places in mid to higher elevation forests, meadows and streambanks over much of North America.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial, scapose, 2-12 cm tall; stoloniferous with fibrous roots and a short rhizome; strongly pubescent, pubescence of the scape and petioles spreading.

Duration: perennial

Longevity: short lived

Habitat Type: shrub thickets, forest

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU

Leaves: all basal, petiolate, palmately compound with 3 leaflets (trifoliate); petioles to 15 cm long; leaflets obovate or cuneate-obovate to elliptic obovate, 2-7 cm long, thick, glabrous and usually glaucous above, silky-villous beneath, margins coarsely crenate-serrate.

Mature height: 1-5 inches

Flowers: 2-15 borne in open cymes, stalks shorter than the leaves, 5-merous; calyx villous-silky, sepals lanceolate-elliptic, spreading to ascending, acuminate, 5-8 mm long; petals 5, white, ovate-orbicular, 8-12 mm long.

Flower color: white

Bloom: May, June, extending into July, August at higher elevations

Bloom starts on: early May

Bloom ends on: late June

Fruit: receptacle hemispherical, fleshy and succulent at maturity, palatable, 1-1.5 cm wide; achenes 1.5 mm long, ovoid, partially sunken in the receptacle.

Characteristics:
F. cuneifolia in St. John 1963, F. platypetala in Piper & Beattie 1914, F. virginiana var. platypetala in Davis 1953.
Fragaria is a highly variable genus for which a number of species and interspecific taxa have been described and then sometimes combined.
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by stolons.
n=28.
Flowers are perfect.
Pollinated mostly by bumblebees and some syrphid flies (Mosquin 1971).
Berries are edible.
Fruit is an achene. The "berry" is actually the receptacle.
Seeds are probably dispersed when animals eat the berries and pass the seeds.
Minor forage for Rocky Mountain elk in summer (Kufeld 1973).
Berries are eaten by a wide variety of wildlife.
Fragaria species are a host for the larva of the grey hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus) (Pocewicz 2005).

Sun requirement: partial sun to full shade

Soil moisture: mesic

Fire: Easily damaged by fire and requires 3-7 years to re-establish (Patterson et al 1985).

Sowing time: fall

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: cold moist

Seed yield: low

Seed harvest: medium difficulty

Seed first harvest: no information available

Seed cleaning: no information available

Seed insect problem: no information available

Seed size: small

Seed harvest date: no information available

Seed comments: Seed must be collected before the berry is eaten by wildlife.

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Key words: upland native forb

Remarks:
Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
Glacier National Park, Montana
Other Propagation Information
Seeds need light and 2 to 3 months cold moist stratification to germinate. Rooted stolons should be transplanted in late summer or early fall. Seed stores up to 20 years without loss of viability (Rose et al 1998).
Cold moist stratification increases germination (Nichols 1934).
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by stolons.

Notes: Too aggressive for home landscape plantings (Idaho Native Plant Society 1999)

References:
Davis, Ray J. 1952. Flora of Idaho. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. 827 pp.

Idaho Native Plant Society. 1999. Native Plants of Northern Idaho for Landscaping and Restoration. INPS White Pine Chapter. Moscow, ID. Online at http://www.idahonativeplants.org/guides/NorthIdahoGuide.aspx

Kufeld, Roland. 1973. Foods Eaten by the Rocky Mountain Elk. Journal of Range Management 26:106-113.

Mosquin, Theodore. 1971. Competition for Pollinators as a Stimulus for the Evolution of Flowering Time. Oikos 22:398-402.

Nichols, G.E. 1934. The Influence of Exposure to Winter Temperatures upon Seed Germination in Various Native American Plants. Ecology 15: 364-373.

Patterson, Patricia A, Kenneth E. Neiman, and Jonalea R. Tonn. 1985. Field Guide to Forest Plants of Northern Idaho. USDA Forest Service Intermountain Research Station. General Technical Report INT-180. Ogden, Utah.

Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Lancaster, PA: Press of the New Era Printing Company. 296 pp.

Pocewicz, Amy. 2005. Host Plants of Palouse Butterfly Species. 2 page handout to accompany the April 2005 presentation to the Palouse Prairie Foundation.

Rose, Robin, Caryn E.C. Chachulski, and Diane L. Haase. 1998. Propagation of Pacific Northwest Native Plants. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, OR.

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium
Plant Guide from the USDA PLANTS Database