Mock Strawberry

About

Mock strawberry is a low, creeping Asian plant with yellow flowers and small red berries that runs through shady, damp lawns. It looks like a wild strawberry, but the fruit is dry and bland.

Also called Indian mock strawberry, Indian strawberry, Indian mock-strawberry

How to identify it

Look for

Leaves have three round-toothed, oval leaflets that are hairy on top, on a plant that trails along the ground. Hairy runners root to form chains of new plants. Single yellow five-petaled flowers on long stalks are followed by small, bright red, strawberry-like fruits.

Look-alikes

Wild strawberry has white flowers and sharp-pointed leaf teeth; mock strawberry's flowers are yellow and its teeth are rounded.

Where it grows

Moist, shady or poorly drained lawns and bed edges; it tolerates close mowing.

When

A perennial that keeps spreading by runners through the growing season, with yellow flowers followed by red fruits.

How it spreads

Rooting runners (stolons) and seeds.

Most common in

What to do, gentlest first

Start at the top. Weed killers are a last step; always read and follow the label.

1. Improve drainage and water less often Prevent

   Better surface drainage, aerating when needed and less frequent watering all slow its spread; keep turf dense.

2. Pull the runners early By hand

   Pull or dig plants and their rooted runners as soon as you notice them, when the soil is moist.

3. Vinegar only burns the tops Organic spray

   Horticultural vinegar may kill young plants, but established ones regrow from their runners and roots.

   Strong vinegar (over about 11% acetic acid) can burn skin and eyes, so wear gloves and eye protection. It browns any leaves it touches, grass included.

4. Broadleaf lawn herbicide Conventional spray

   Spot-treat actively growing plants with a lawn product containing 2,4-D, MCPP (mecoprop), dicamba or triclopyr.

   Read and follow the label. Many lawn weed killers also harm vegetables, flowers and shrubs, so don't let spray drift into beds, and keep dicamba products off the root zones of trees and shrubs.

Uses, wildlife and pets

Edible?

NC State says the fruit is technically edible but has a bland flavor and dry texture. Only pick from unsprayed ground.

Not 100% sure? Don't eat it. Never pick from ground that may have been sprayed, or along roads and railways.

Pets

Not listed by the ASPCA. The ASPCA lists true wild strawberry (Fragaria) as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses, but that is a different plant.