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Duchesnea indica

Common name:	Mock Strawberry	Family:	Rosaceae
Author:	(Andrews.)Focke.	Botanical references:	58, 200, 266
Synonyms:	Fragaria indica (Andrews.), Duchesnea fragarioides
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia - China, Japan, Himalayas. An occasional garden escape in Britain[17].
Habitat:	Shady places in woods, grassy slopes, ravines in low mountains, all over Japan[58].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	2

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Potentilla indica[DUTCH,G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	False Strawberry [H], Indian Strawberry [P], Indian-strawberry [B], Schijnaardbei [D], Seladren [E], She Mei [E], Ti Mei [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	indica = Indian
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Rosales. Rose family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China Java (China)

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen perennial growing to 0.1m by 1m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 6 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf all year, in flower from May to October, and the seeds ripen from July to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 2/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge, Ground Cover.

Edible Uses

Fruit Leaves.

Fruit - raw[105, 177]. Dry and insipid[17]. Certainly rather tasteless, but it is not dry[K]. A flavour somewhat like a water melon according to some people, but this is possibly the product of a strained imagination[K].The fruit contains about 3.4% sugar, 1.5% protein, 1.6% ash[194]. Vitamin C is 6.3mg per 100ml of juice[194]. The fruit is about 10mm in diameter with the appearance and texture of a strawberry but very little flavour[K]. A clump 2.5m² yields about 150g of fruit annually[194].
Leaves - cooked[179].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Anticoagulant Antiphlogistic Antiseptic Depurative Febrifuge Poultice Skin.

The whole plant is anticoagulant, antiseptic, depurative and febrifuge[147, 178]. It can be used in decoction or the fresh leaves can be crushed and applied externally as a poultice[147]. It is used in the treatment of boils and abscesses, weeping eczema, ringworm, stomatitis, laryngitis, acute tonsillitis, snake and insect bites and traumatic injuries[147].
A decoction of the leaves is used in the treatment of swellings[147, 178, 218].
An infusion of the flowers is used to activate the blood circulation[218].
The fruit is used to cure skin diseases[218].
A decoction of the plant is used as a poultice for abscesses, boils, burns etc[218].

Other Uses

Ground cover.

A good ground cover plant, spreading quickly[197] by means of runners[214]. It is rather bare in winter though[K] and should not be grown with small plants since it will drown them out[208]. A good cover for bulbous plants[214].

Cultivation details

Prefers a moist but well-drained soil in a sunny position[175]. Plants are at their best in semi-shade, though they are not too fussy[214] and can succeed in quite dense shade[208, 214]. They also grow well in a rock garden[1].
Plants are hardy to about -20° c[200].
A very ornamental plant[1] but it can be invasive, spreading freely by means of runners[187]. Plants are more or less evergreen, though they can be browned by severe frosts[214]. Plants sometimes self-sow in British gardens[214].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a sunny position in a greenhouse. Germination usually takes place within 1 - 6 weeks or more at 15° c. A period of cold stratification may speed up germination. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer.
Division of runners in spring or late summer. Very easy, they can be planted out straight into their permanent positions.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Fragaria indica (a possible synonym).

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[58] Ohwi. G. Flora of Japan. (English translation) Smithsonian Institution 1965
The standard work. Brilliant, but not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[147] ? A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press ISBN 0-914294-92-X
A very readable herbal from China, combining some modern methods with traditional chinese methods.

[175] Bird. R. (Editor) Focus on Plants. Volume 5. (formerly 'Growing from seed') Thompson and Morgan. 1991
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Corydalis spp.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[178] Stuart. Rev. G. A. Chinese Materia Medica. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre
A translation of an ancient Chinese herbal. Fascinating.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[187] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Perennials Volumes 1 and 2. Pan Books 1991 ISBN 0-330-30936-9
Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc.

[194] Parmar. C. and Kaushal. M.K. Wild Fruits of the Sub-Himalayan Region. Kalyani Publishers. New Delhi. 1982
Contains lots of information on about 25 species of fruit-bearing plants of the Himalayas, not all of them suitable for cool temperate zones.

[197] Royal Horticultural Society. Ground Cover Plants. Cassells. 1989 ISBN 0-304-31089-1
A handy little booklet from the R.H.S.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[208] Thomas. G. S. Plants for Ground Cover J. M. Dent & Sons 1990 ISBN 0-460-12609-1
An excellent detailled book on the subject, very comprehensive.

[214] Matthews. V. The New Plantsman. Volume 1, 1994. Royal Horticultural Society 1994 ISBN 1352-4186
A quarterly magazine, it has articles on Himalayacalamus hookerianus, hardy Euphorbias and an excellent article on Hippophae spp.

[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.

[266] Flora of China 1994
On-line version of the Flora - an excellent resource giving basic info on habitat and some uses.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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