Potentilla sterilis Barren Strawberry C DD N
This is not an easy plant to see even though it is one of the few which can be in flower in late February or March. The flowers are quite small usually about 1 cm in diameter, rarely much more. The English name gives away the diagnostic feature: it has trefoil leaves very like a strawberry although they are a duller green and smaller. Of course Potentilla sterilis isn't a type of strawberry either.
Potentilla sterilis is common throughout England, Wales, and southern Scotland but records become fewer in the far north of Scotland. In Ireland it is commonest in the centre and esat of the island.
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| Potentilla sterilis Barren Strawberry |
LHS: Millers dale, Derbyshire 7th March 2008 RHS: Warburton Wood Cheshire 8th April 2005
Added November 23rd 2004, updated July 21st 2011