Manitoba strawberries (vesca or virginiana)

Two species of wild strawberry are reported as found in Manitoba by the Manitoba Conservation Data Center (http://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/cdc/pdf/plant_rank.pdf)

Fragaria vesca Woodland Strawberry

Fragaria virginiana Smooth Wild Strawberry

I have long wondered how to tell them apart easily when the fruit is not present. donaldasutherland left an excellent tip on one of my observations "Terminal tooth of leaflet shorter than adjacent two." indicating F. virginiana. Using this character, I went back through my observations so far and had another go at id. In many of the photos, the terminal tooth characteristic was easily visible--though not all :(.

I have attached my observations now suspected to be/identified as F. virginiana and those suspected to be/identified as F. vesca. Looking at them as a whole, I can see the group now tagged as F. virginiana live up to their common name of Smooth. The ones now tagged as F. vesca tend to be shaggier in appearance. I also see that I have taken a lot more photographs of F. virginiana.

Budd's Flora of the Prairie Provinces indicates F. virginiana is found in prairie, open woodland and moist areas throughout. F. vesca is found in rocky woodlands, Boreal Forest. Scoggan's Flora of Manitoba describes F. virginiana as found in thickets, prairie, rock outcrops, and clearings in the southern two-thirds of Manitoba while F. vesca is found in thickets, woods and clearings in the southern three-fifths.

This seems to me to imply that on many of my outings, I will encounter habitats appropriate for both species. My habit of only recording the first individual that I identify might be obscuring that both species are present in a specific area - though preferring separate micro habitats. Hopefully the shaggy impression plus the terminal tooth characteristic will help me to catch any F. vesca that I previously might have overlooked.

I will also make sure that I get the ends of at least one terminal leaflet in sharp focus :)

PS here's the full set used in Scoggan, Flora of Manitoba: F. vesca Terminal tooth of leaflet mostly longer than adjacent two, leaflets are subsessile, calyx lobes spreading or reflexed on fruit, seeds on surface of fruit; F. virginiana Terminal tooth of leaflet mostly shorter than adjacent two, leaflets on short petioles, calyx lobes ascend around young fruit, seeds in pits on surface of fruit (Scoggan, Flora of Manitoba) ;;

Publicado el agosto 24, 2017 12:47 TARDE por marykrieger