Rosaceae or Rose Family
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Low, trailing vine. Blooms mid spring into summer. The flowers are yellow, with five petals, and generally borne singly. Five pointed sepals alternate with the petals. Immediately behind the petals are three-toothed sepal-like bracts. Leaves are divided into three toothed leaflets which somewhat resemble those of the strawberry. Fruit a bright red, juicy berry, resembling a strawberry, but tasteless. A very common weed in disturbed shady to partly sunny places. True wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) have white flowers, and tasty fruits. Cinquefoils (Potentilla sp.) have similar flowers, but have five to seven leaflets and generally are not trailing vines. Barren strawberry (Waldsteinia fragarioides), which has not been reported in Wildwood, is somewhat similar, with three leaflets, yellow flowers, and tasteless strawberries, but it is not a trailing vine, its leaves are all basal (coming directly out of the ground), and its flowers occur in small clusters. |