Fruit

Wild strawberry

Fragaria vesca L. · woodland strawberry, alpine strawberry · Polish: Poziomka pospolita

Edible

Photo: Johann Georg Sturm (Painter: Jacob Sturm) / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

How to identify it

Low plant (5–20 cm) with long, thin runners.
Leaves divided into three leaflets, coarsely toothed.
White flowers; flowers in May–June, sometimes again in autumn.
Red, juicy false fruits, like a strawberry but much smaller (1–2 cm).

Where it grows

Sunny places: clearings, felled areas, sunny woodland edges, slopes, open scrub and woodland; common throughout Poland.

In the kitchen and the home medicine cabinet

The fruit is eaten fresh, with sugar or cream, and made into preserves, marmalades and kompot (a fruit drink). The young leaves are dried for tea.

Caution Allergies to wild strawberries do occur, especially in young children. Wash woodland fruit before eating (risk of echinococcosis, a tapeworm infection). In the forest, pick by hand — the rules prohibit the use of combs, berry ‘machines’ and pickers. Picking is prohibited in national parks and nature reserves.