When is a "strawberry" not really a strawberry? When it is the tasteless but harmless fruit of Potentilla indica, mock strawberry (also known as Indian strawberry, false strawberry). The leaves are often very strawberry-like and the plant spreads by stolons like strawberry plants. This leads to confusion even when nobody sees the red fruits. It's a weed here, but not our ugliest. It covers the ground in half shady spots and can survive and even thrive inder the blades of a lawnmower, so it could be used as an alternative groundcover. And is the Latin epithet "indica" correct? Probably not. It seems to be from eastern and southern Asia, but if you check twenty websites, you'll find twenty different countries of origin, from Russia to Pakistan to the USA. The only place it doesn't seem to be from is, well, India. #potentillaindica #mockstrawberry #indianstrawberries #notastrawberry #botanicalcuriosity #botanicalconfusion #groundcover #lamacchinafissa #readingretreats #mezzogiardiniere (presso La Macchina Fissa) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAcjzqQA77d/?igshid=ou90i42akx3u