i found what appears to be a wild strawberry around the deck in the back yard.
my sister doesn't use any pesticides or weed killer, so i'll assume they aren't contaminated. to find out if they are indeed strawberries and not a look-alike poisonous plant, i referred to the books i'd collected so far.
RESEARCHED:
looking in my Edible Wild Plants book, it seems to fit the description of a wild strawberry found in the white flowers section, "low plants similar to cultivated strawberries, but with smaller fruit. Leaves long-stalked, with 3 coarsely-toothed leaflets. Flowers round-petaled, in flat clusters on a separate stalk from leaves. Colonial." except, i haven't confirmed the color of the plant...
i had to go look closer to check that the flowers were described accurately. expecting them to be white, they were yellow... hmmm.
searching on the internet i found various sites that described the yellow flowered plant as a mock strawberry of species Duchesnia indica instead of real wild strawberries (with white flowers) of species Fragaria. I also found conflicting descriptions as to its edibility...
wikipedia describes the mock strawberry as edible, though with very little flavor, and mentions it's genetically closer to genus Potentilla then the genus Duchesnea. alternate names are "Gurbir, Indian strawberry or false strawberry."
i found interesting info in an article here, "Besides being an ornamental plant, the mock strawberry has some folk medicinal uses and should be included in any medicinal plant garden. The whole plant, either fresh or dried, is used and is reported to possess depurative and febrifuge properties. It is used to reduce swelling and in the treatment of skin problems such abscesses, eczema and ringworm, infections such as laryngitis and tonsillitis, as well as, snake and insect bites. Various parts of the plant may be boiled in water to yield a decoction or infusion. The fresh leaves can be crushed and applied externally as a poultice." The fruits are edible, but bland.
similar but more elaborate description compared to the one above found here.
however, an online dictionary says the mock strawberry is inedible: "a plant, Duchesnea indica, of the rose family, native to India, having yellow flowers and inedible fruit resembling strawberries." but, i'm guessing that just means they are untastely, rather than poisonous... it's not specific enough.
except for that dictionary entry and a few discussion forums online that are not very decisive, it appears that mock strawberry is safe to eat but lacking flavor. and from what i can tell, that's the kind of plant i found in the yard.
EAT IT:
i'll collect a few of the fruits to try a small amount first... as with any new item, i'll start small and see if i feel any bad reaction or stomach ache or cramps or itch over the following 24 hours or so. the fruits i found were very small and not many looked ripe. a lot looked like the recent heat fried them brown. i picked the ones that looked most ripe, but really there was slim pickings.
i tried about three of the little hardly-ripe fruits i picked. yep, pretty tasteless. the outer seedy pieces crunched similar to the seed things on the familiar edible strawberry. i used my front teeth to break up the external seed parts really well and tried to get some kind of taste out of it. a little bit came, but it's hard to describe. the inside was fairly soft.
a few minutes later i thought my tongue felt a slightly sore... hmm.. maybe an indication of allergic reaction? maybe. some fruits like bananas and pineapple do the same thing. i also wondered if i felt a heat rush through my body. not sure if it was from being in the 100 degree heat just before or something else. weird. the sore tongue lasted for a couple hours - not painful, just noticeable. that's it. otherwise i was fine for the next 30 hours.
anyway, based on that little experiment, i conclude that my body didn't like it. in my book, the fruit of the plant i tasted is INEDIBLE.
despite my considering it inedible, at some point i may try using the leaves in a poultice for mosquito bites or something like that.
