Leaf
NasserHalaweh, Wikimedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Siberian barren strawberry
Waldsteinia ternata (Stephan) Fritsch
Also known as: Barren strawberry, Waldsteinia
Family: Rosaceae
10 to 15 cm tall
Open woodland and shaded banks; evergreen ground cover used in borders and under shrubs
Flowering: April – May
Shade
Part shade
Hardy to about -25°C
❓ How do you recognise this plant?
Often mistaken for a sterile strawberry because of its trifoliate foliage, it actually produces only small dry achenes and not strawberries.
🍃 Leaves
Trifoliate, toothed, semi-evergreen, resembling those of the strawberry, turning bronze in winter
🌸 Flowers
Small, yellow, with 5 petals, grouped in small cymes above the foliage
🍎 Fruits
Dry achenes, inconspicuous, not edible
🪵 Bark
Not applicable — stoloniferous herbaceous perennial
🗺️ Distribution
Native to central Europe and Asia; widely spread in western Europe as a ground cover
🐝 Value for pollinators
Small nectar-bearing flowers visited by bees and hoverflies in spring
✂️ Horticultural uses
Vigorous ground cover for banks and shaded borders, a hardy alternative to grass under trees
🌿 Other Rosaceae to discover
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.
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