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I just moved to South Carolina and I see these scattered around my yard. Would be great to cultivate if it is indeed a strawberry. Any advice would be appreciated.

Photos:

enter image description here

enter image description here

originals at:

https://ibb.co/KNRvWd8

https://ibb.co/MGj81Xy

Polypipe Wrangler
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Citizen
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    It does look like strawberry leaves, especially the damaged edges. – Polypipe Wrangler Mar 01 '21 at 07:31
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    Please: include the images in your question, and not as links. This is a reference site, so the image should survive any change on the external site – Giacomo Catenazzi Mar 01 '21 at 13:39
  • I would say no (but I do not know the American wild strawberries). Ask neighborhoods: good way to find who you can trust for gardening problems. – Giacomo Catenazzi Mar 01 '21 at 13:45
  • @GiacomoCatenazzi thanks, I tried but it said the filesize was too big. Is there a built in better way to host images with SE? – Citizen Mar 02 '21 at 00:16
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    They appear to be diseased with mildew and maybe something else (so, whether or not they're wild strawberries, I would recommend caution; the disease could potentially spread to other plants, too, including other strawberries, and tomatoes you plant with them; it's a good idea to keep tomatoes away from strawberries). – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Mar 02 '21 at 20:38

2 Answers2

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I think you might be looking at Mock Strawberry, Potentilla indica or Duchesna indica. Like true strawberries, it reproduces by stolons "running" across the soil surface, and also like true strawberries, the leaves differ in leaf margin crenations, ranging from very rounded (as in your photo) to slightly pointed. The easiest way to tell whether it is a true strawberry or not is to wait for a flower - true strawberries bloom white while mock strawberries bloom yellow as in the photo I linked to in this answer. Personally, if there are no strawberries growing nearby and no compost heap into which you put strawberry seeds, then I'm confident you have a mock strawberry.

Mock strawberries are not poisonous, but as always, don't eat anything that you have not positively identified yourself.

Here's a photo I mocked up, showing the difference in the leaves between mock, wild, and garden strawberries, and comparing them to your photo - but note that the leaves are more variable than I show here (the wild strawberry shown is Fragraria vesca, also called an Alpine or Woodland Strawberry):

enter image description here

Jurp
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Here is another strawberry leaf photo from stackexchange. Looks similar. This ref says mock strawberries are always hairless, strawberries vary.

enter image description here

Strawberry leaves have purple-red rust spots

Polypipe Wrangler
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