Fragaria vesca L., Rosaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: ye cao mei

English: European strawberry, sow-teat strawberry, wild strawberry, woodland strawberry

French: fraiser des bois, fraisier, fraisier commun

Spanish: fresa, fresa silvestre, fresal común

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Perennial herbs from 1 to several clumped rhizomes 1-5 cm long, producing long slender stolons.  Leaves thin, leaflets ovate, obovate, or sometimes rhombic, (1-) 2-8 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, upper surface bright green and sparsely appressed long-pilose, glabrate with age, lower surface glaucous and sparsely to moderately appressed silky pilose, sometimes glabrate with age, margins coarsely serrate, sometimes only in upper 1/2, lateral petiolules 0.1-0.5 cm long, the terminal ones 0.1-0.6 cm long, petioles 2-18 cm long, silky pilose (hairs retrorsely appressed or sometimes spreading), stipules brown, membranous, usually 0.8-1.7 cm long.  Scapes 5-30 cm long, about as long as or longer than leaves, erect in fruit, pedicels usually 15-20 mm long; epicalyx lobes lanceolate, 3.3-5 mm long; sepals ovate, 3.5-5 mm long, sparely strigose; petals white, obovate, 4.5-7 mm long.  Fruit white or sometimes read, rather dry, hemispherical, 1-1.5 cm long, achenes superficially attached, 1-1.3 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1104).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in mesic to wet forest, 730-1700 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1104). In New Zealand, "roadsides, wasteland, forest clearings and damp banks up to c. 1000 m" (Webb et al., 1988; p. 1090).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Eurasia and North America, often cultivated (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1104).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1104) Voucher cited: Forbes 474.H (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1104)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 121) Vouchers cited: Baumann s.n., MacKee 12294

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Canada Province of British Columbia	Canada (British Columbia)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Forests, mountain slopes, meadows. Gansu, Guizhou, Jilin, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan.
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1080)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Oregon)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Washington)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	Lavergne, Christophe (2006) "Naturalisé/±envahissant"

Comments:  Naturalized and more or less invasive in La Réunion per Christophe Lavergne, pers. com.

Additional information:
Additional online information about Fragaria vesca is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Fragaria vesca as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Fragaria vesca may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Lavergne, Christophe. 2006. List des especes exotiques envahissantes a La Reunion. Unpublished manuscript (Excel file). .

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).