If the strawberries are not blooming near you, they will be soon. I am not talking about the garden strawberries. It might surprise some of you, but there are two strawberry species native to North Dakota.
Both the wild strawberry (Frageria virginiana) and the wood strawberry (F. vesca) may be found across the state in the open woodlands, and the woodland margins, as well as and low, moist prairie. They are similar in appearance to the garden strawberry but smaller in vegetation and fruit. The three coarsely toothed wedge-shaped leaves are about an inch long, dark green above with a whitish lower surface, while the five-petaled white flowers are roughly an inch in diameter. And like the garden strawberry plants, the wild strawberries are stoloniferous, spreading across the soil surface by runners. The fruits are a bit variable but often about the size if the tip of your little finger.
By the way, the commercial strawberry (Frageria x ananassa) is a hybrid of two North American species, the wild strawberry which is known for its flavor, and the coastal strawberry (F. chiloensis), native to the west coast of North and South America and known for producing larger strawberries. The commercial strawberry can be traced back to France during the 1700’s.
Dr. William Butler, a seventeenth century English writer apparently had a fondles for strawberries. “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.” He was not likely referring to the North American strawberry, but more likely a European species. But when it comes to the flavor of our wild strawberry, they crush the commercial strawberry in terms of flavor. It is the “strawberriest” of the strawberries!
So if you are fortunate enough to find some wild strawberries near you, make a point to monitor their development and taste a few when they ripen. You are going to be in some stiff competition with birds and other animals, but those small gems are loaded with flavor. How does that old saying go…“It just doesn’t get any better!”
~Chuck Lura
