Previously on Backyard Botanist, seawater along the tip of Florida has exceeded hot tub temperatures of 37.8C (100F) in recent days, making it potentially the hottest ever measured, and we discovered the Orange Daylily. This week the false strawberry is our focus.You may have noticed these little guys in your backyard or the park. As a kid you may have even thought they were tiny versions of the kind you get from the grocery story (I am guilty of this). Which is cute, but also wrong. False or Mock Strawberry, scientifically known as Potentilla indica (Rosaceae), is a low-growing perennial that is evergreen in southern climates. It grows 1 ft. (0.3m) high in colonies and makes a dense ground cover.

Flowers: The flowers of this impostor of produce are ¾ inch (2cm) across and consist of 5 yellow notched petals. Drupes or berries are bright red, spherical, ½ inch (0.6cm) across, and bumpy. Fruits appear in September.

Leaves: Leaves are basal and trifoliate with long, hairy, leaf stalks emerging from the plant’s crown. Leaflets are blunt tipped, broad, oval, ¾-1 ¾ inches (2-4.5cm) long, and ½-1 ¼ inch (0.6-3cm) wide. They are somewhat hairy with serrated margins.

Edible parts: fruit and leaves.

Medicinal properties: It has anticoagulant, antiseptic, purifying, and fever reducing qualities.

How to harvest and eat: Berries are best picked when perfectly ripe, bright red, and the seeds are spread out across its flesh. They can be eaten fresh. They have a light, sour watermelon flavor in favorable conditions, but can also be bland. Leaves can be harvested year-round in areas where the plant stays green and eaten raw or cooked. They can also be dried for tea.

Fall Salad

Ingredients:
2-3 cups of mock strawberry leaves
2-3 cups other late season wild salad greens such as mallow
one beet, medium
one carrot, large
1 garlic clove, crushed
⅓ cup oil of your choice
⅓ cup vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

 Submerge greens in very cold salted water for 10 minutes to wash and remove any critters. Drain well and set aside in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix in oil, vinegar, crushed garlic clove, honey, and lemon juice. Next, grate 1-2 cups of root vegetables (beet, carrot) into the mixture. Marinate grated vegetables for 10-15 minutes. Then toss with wild greens. Enjoy!

I'm Melissa and this is Backyard Botanist.

Next time, on Backyard Botanist, former intelligence official confirms aliens are real, and we pick some Plantain, Plantago spp.