Fragaria chiloensis
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Fragaria chiloensis, also known as the Coastal Strawberry or Beach Strawberry, is an evergreen perennial boasting shiny, slightly lobed, dark green leaves that turn reddish in winter, and from mid-spring to early summer, it produces a profusion of small, 5-petaled white flowers with yellow centers. These are followed by small, edible red fruits in mid to late summer.
Coastal Strawberry is easy to cultivate and can be used as a lawn substitute or to stabilize slopes and sand dunes due to its ability to form a dense ground cover. It can tolerate moderate foot traffic and is one of the parent species of cultivated strawberries.
Growing Coastal Strawberry is a breeze, as it is highly drought-tolerant and prefers sandy soils. It can thrive in varying degrees of light, from full sun to part shade or shade, and has medium CaCO3 tolerance.
Apart from its ornamental value, Coastal Strawberry has many benefits. It produces conspicuous flowers that attract birds, and its fruit is large, sweet, and succulent, making it a delicious treat that can be eaten raw or cooked. The berries can also be used to make jams and preserves, and tea can be brewed from the leaves. The plant has medicinal uses as well, as it is antiseptic, astringent, emmenagogue, galactagogue, and odontalgic. It has been used to regulate the menstrual cycle, and a poultice of the chewed leaves has been used to treat burns.
Fragaria chiloensis is an easy-to-grow, ornamental ground cover that produces sweet and succulent fruit with many medicinal and culinary uses. Its tolerance for drought and sandy soils, as well as its ability to stabilize slopes and sand dunes, make it an excellent addition to any garden or landscape.
References
https://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/eflora/
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/
http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/
Photo credit Wikipedia
Additional information
| Plant Size | Height 10 cm |
|---|---|
| Pot Size | 10 cm |
| Water Use | Medium |
| Sun/Shade | Full shade, Full sun, Part sun/part shade |
| Soil Moisture | Dry |
| Soil Description | Sandy, well-drained soils |
| Conditions | Drought tolerant. Ideal sand-binding ground cover., Mat forming |
General:
Perennial herb from a fibrous root and short, thick rhizome, with short, leafless runners; stems trailing, rooting at the nodes; runners, leaf stalks and flower shoots silky-long-hairy and reddish.
Leaves:
Basal in rosettes, palmately compound, on stalks 4-20 cm long; leaflets 3, egg-shaped, short-stalked, 1.5-4 cm long, thick, leathery, the lower surface strongly net-veined, pale and somewhat hairy, the upper surface green, smooth and wrinkled, the margins coarsely toothed with the terminal tooth shorter than its neighbours.
Flowers:
Inflorescence an open cluster of 5 to 15 (20) stalked flowers atop axillary, leafless shoots 3-15 cm long, shorter than to slightly exceeding the leaves; corollas white, 2-4 cm across, the petals 5, egg-shaped to round, 8-16 mm long; calyces silky-hairy, 5-lobed, the lobes (sepals) lanceolate, 6-10 mm long, alternating with elliptic bractlets that are almost as long as the sepals; ovaries superior; stamens about 20.
Fruits:
Strawberries, hemispheric, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, hairy, covered with achenes; achenes about 2 mm long, slightly immersed in the fleshy receptacle.
Reference
ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/eflora
