Fragaria viridis

Knackelbeere, flower and leaves (Fragaria viridis)

The Hill Strawberry, also Knackelbeere or cracking strawberry (Fragaria viridis) is one of four Central European strawberry species. Its common nickname she received because an audible pop is created by picking the ripe fruit. It differs from the wild strawberry in that the sepals are present at the bill fruits and that it forms monopodial foothills. The fruits are collective nut fruit consisting of many individual small nutlets, sitting on the thickened axis. You do not have a typical strawberry flavor, but taste more sour. The flowers are pollinated mostly by insects such as bees or bumblebees Hautflüglige or Diptera such as flies and many butterflies. There but beetles have been spotted in the pollination. The germinating seeds are themselves in the light spread ( Autochorie ) or be spread through digestion ( endozoochory ).

Occurrence

The Hill Strawberry has its main occurrence in perennial hems dry warm locations. So you prefers warm, dry and sparse locations, but also grows in light deciduous mixed forests and fertile soil. Frequently it is also found on calcareous soils. While Germany in the northern provinces is rare ( in Schleswig -Holstein and Mecklenburg- Vorpommern on the Red List ), it comes in central and southern Germany scattered before. In the Austrian Alpine region it is considered endangered, so it is already extinct in Vorarlberg. Mostly it occurs also in the Pannonian sphere of influence in Eastern Austria. It is also common on the whole northern hemisphere, not only in Europe and Asia but also in North America.

Morphological characteristics

The Hill Strawberry is only about 10 to 20 inches tall and blooms in May and June. Its stalk has a dense horizontal hair and towering above the rosette leaves. They often forms monopodial foothills and spreads vegetatively with them. The Hill Strawberry has three times fingered leaves whose leaflets are elliptical shaped means short-stemmed and have a final tooth, which is shorter than the lateral teeth whose tips are often bent inwards. The lateral leaflets are, however, very short -stalked. The bracts of the inflorescence are often very small, unperforated and reduced. The five -fold 3 to 6 flowers are found only in the top quarter of the plant. It can reach a diameter of 2.5 cm. The base of the flower has fine long hair. The petals are initially greenish - white, to full anthesis, however, ivory white. The cup is pressed to fruit ripening and remains mostly while picking the fruit adhere to these. The Hill Strawberry forms a collective nut fruit that consists of individual nutlets, the outside are on the thickened tissue axis. The collective nut fruit is round, relatively hard and shines very little. The ripe fruit is usually reddish or dark red, in the shade but this often remains green. The nutlets are slightly depressed. If the mature collective nut fruit is detached from the pedicel, this is done by an audible pop.