Strawberry Plants & Leaf Identification

Leaves

• Strawberries have distinctive trifoliate leaves, meaning that the leaves grow in groups of three. The leaves of the wild or common strawberry (F. virginiana) -- the native North American species from which cultivated strawberries descend -- measure up to 3 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches wide. The leaves are oval-shaped with jagged edges and occur at the end of long, fuzzy stems. Turning the leaf over reveals an underside that is silvery-green and much paler than the top surface of the leaf.

Flowers

• Strawberry plants belong to the rose family and produce small but showy blossoms that eventually develop into fruit. Five leaf-like sepals cup the base of the flower. Strawberry blossoms also have five round, white petals, and the flowers measure about 3/4 inches wide. At the center of the flower, you will observe a small, mounded, pale yellow structure. This contains the pistils, or female structures. Surrounding it, you will find numerous yellow-capped stamens that produce the pollen. Strawberry blossoms do not generate any scent.

Fruit

• The mound at the center of the strawberry flower eventually enlarges and darkens into a red coloration, forming the berry itself. Strawberries differ from other fruits in that their seeds form on the outside rather than inside the fruit. In fact, each individual strawberry "seed" is a tiny fruit called an achene, while the fruit itself is the swollen base of the plant, not the ovary as in most fruits. In the common strawberry, the "seeds" are embedded in the fruit, but in other wild species, the seeds rest on the surface of the fruit.

Form

• Strawberry plants generate above-ground runners that help the plants to spread. Because strawberry plants tend to grow outward, spreading via runners to cover a large area of ground, rather than upward, they remain low to the ground. The stems contain a bristly fuzz and often have a dull red coloration.

  Because of their growth habit, strawberries will expand to take over a patch of land, if allowed. Growers either allow them to expand, forming patches or rows, or remove any runners that develop to keep the plants confined to a small area. Growers tend to allow June bearing varieties to sprawl while removing the runners on everbearing and day neutral varieties.