Wild strawberry

[Radoslav]

Those are the real strawberries of my grandparents.
In the past it was not common to grow strawberry in backyards, there were no big fruited cultivars  such we use to grow now. People just walked to the edge of forest or meadow and collected those miniature fruits of wild strawberry.
Wild strawberry are very aromatic with pleasant taste different to common strawberry.
There are 3 different species in my area:
Fragaria moschata (my fingers to show the size)

Fragaria viridis and
Fragaria vesca

[Solko]

That is interesting, Radoslav. I don't know much about the wild strawberries here, or rather, how to recognize the original ones. There has been so much breeding and crossing with American strains, that I wouldn't know how to tell the originals from escaped cultivated varieties. But I do find a lot of strawberries growing in the mountains and forests here, quite far from people. I will try to take some pictures when they fruit.

[Luisport]

I'm full of them here! They grow wild in my region, they are good and big for wild strawberries! 

[D-Grower]

When I was in NH years ago they grew wild on the mountain side of my buddies house. Small but very good taste for sure. I'm always a fan of untouched wild species regardless of great taste as its the way nature intended.

[BrianL]

Volunteer randomly showed up in yard.  Not sure of species, but the taste is superior to cultivated ones.  Just small.

[stuartdaly88]

Are all Fragaria species edible?

We have a weedy one that has lots of little red fruit perfectly round marble size

[Radoslav]

That is interesting, Radoslav. I don't know much about the wild strawberries here, or rather, how to recognize the original ones. There has been so much breeding and crossing with American strains, that I wouldn't know how to tell the originals from escaped cultivated varieties. But I do find a lot of strawberries growing in the mountains and forests here, quite far from people. I will try to take some pictures when they fruit.

Wild strawberries in Slovakia are.:
fragaria moschata, local name "Truskavec", you can find it nearly in whole Europe
http://botany.cz/cs/fragaria-moschata/
fragaria vesca (has also white wild cultivar) - this one can be found in nearly whole Europe and the USA.
http://botany.cz/cs/fragaria-vesca/
and fragaria viridis, local name "Travnica"
http://botany.cz/cs/fragaria-viridis/

there are also some others around the world like:
fragaria chiloensis - grows in north and south America, also in Hawaii
 http://botany.cz/cs/fragaria-chiloensis/
or fragaria virginiana, common in north America
http://botany.cz/cs/fragaria-virginiana/


Modern commercial big cultivars (fragaria x ananassa) are cross of USA wild and European wild strawberries

[pitbull-rus]

Good afternoon.My friend lives in Russia,in the Chelyabinsk region.It has many types of forests.And other berries of the region.

[Stan]

I bought a pot of them at HD . I was wondering if the fruit were stunted and I notice the flowers are a very attractive pinkish purple that stand well above the foliage. Reading this makes me think they might just be the wild type.
I thought the granddaughter would like them. No mention on the label of what kind of Strawberry's..just that it came from a grower in Alabama.

I also bought a "Goldfish plant". You can't start them too early on love of nature.

[Stan]

Turned out they are some ornamental Strawberry hybrid good for its colorful flowers. I bought it for the granddaughter to have fun. Now that we are picking? Not bad...tiny fruit. Maybe good for a topping. Or,for tiny hands to pick.