This started growing wild at the back of one of my beds that gets a lot of shade. Please help identify it if you can. I have a very curious 14 month old that likes to taste things and am wondering if it is poisonous or if I can leave it as food for beneficials.
Here is a picture of the leaves and roots. It seems to run along the ground like a blackberry, but has no thornes.
It looks like an Indian Strawberry
http://www.naturesherbal.com/Indian_Strawberry.htm
I was reading your hyperlink about the medicinal properties of the "strawberry" above and one of the things they say is that it is good for an upset stomach: all you have to do to it and then drink the concoction. LOL if I have an upset stomach the last thing I want to do is try to swallow something..... Maybe I am totally cockeyed but..............
Ann
It could also be Wild Strawberry,
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=FRVI
Josephine.
Indian strawberry (Duchesnea indica) has yellow blooms
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2018/
The wild strawberries have white blooms.
Thank you Hazel, that could be the key clue to the question.
It is probably an indian strawberry because it has yellow blooms. If the comments in plant files are accurate, it looks Iike I should pull it since some people say the berries are poisonus.
Except for that one comment about the handful eaten and the cousin being found dead in the woods (may or may not have been the cause of death), everything I found says that the fruit is edible but very bland tasting. What is definitely clear is that this is a very invasive plant and a difficult one to get rid of.
It certainly looks like an Indian strawberry to me. (Indian or wild - we don't distinguish. ) These are terribly invasive, and you can pull and pull and still they come. They love to grow in wet places and in shade. My grandson loves to pick and eat the berries. I'm not saying whether they are poisonous or not, but he never got sick. They, however, don't have much flavor and require a LOT of sugar to even come close to being edible. Get rid of them if you can. My DH has resorted to broad leaf weed killer to control them in the lawn.
I have eaten them. They are tasteless. What a disappointment and yes, I agree with Louparris. Do away with them as they are quite invasive. I left these thinking the birds would eat them but they didn't care for them either. Now, I have to try to eliminate them. I don't think they will be harmful to anyone that eats them and don't think anyone will want to eat many.
