Fragaria

Attractive creeping perennials, leaves in three leaflets, simple flowers, typically 5-petalled and white. The cultivated strawberry, F. x ananassa, is a hybrid between a pacific and  an eastern American species. Interestingly the name ananassa is derived from Ananas, the indigenous South American name for pineapple!

Appearing in spring, strawberry flowers form a key nectar and pollen source, especially in shady spots, for bees, flies and other early insects. Strawberries themselves are very palatable, not only to us but also to birds such as blackbirds, babbits, squirrels, slugs and snails and several plant bugs, all part of the rich tapestry of life in the garden. The carpeting leaves can form an useful ground-cover, giving refuge to amphibians and invertebrates, and forming the food-plant of numerous common moths, together with the grizzled skipper butterfly.