Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Hautbois Strawberry
Fragaria moschata
- Family: Rose Family – Rosaceae
- Height: 20–35 cm (8–14 in.)
- Flower: Regular, 2–2.5 cm (0.8–1 in.) wide. Male and female flowers on separate plants. Calyx-lobes five, triangular, long-tapered, hairy. Epicalyx-lobes slender, hairy. Petals five, white. Carpels many. Stamens twenty. Inflorescence an umbel-like cyme.
- Leaves: In basal tufts. Long-stalked, trifoliolate. Leaflets stalkless, 3–10 cm (1.2–4 in.) long, hairy on both sides, often wrinkled. Margins toothed, teeth tipped.
- Fruit: A red enlarged receptacle (1–2 cm long) with hardly any achenes on the surface.
- Habitat: Formerly cultivated, often an escape. Old gardens and parks, sometimes forests near habitation.
- Flowering time: June.
The strawberries (Fragaria) greatly resemble the cinquefoils (Potentilla). Both have runners, often trifoliolate leaves, and an enlarged receptacle. The dioecious hautbois strawberry is clearly taller than the creamy strawberry (F. viridis) or the wild strawberry (F. vesca). The leaves and the flowers are also bigger, and the hautbois strawberry produce fewer runners than the two other species.
