A Little Surprise

[19and41]

While working in the yard I found a little strawberry vine near my grounding stake.  That is a 5 cent piece next to it for scale.

[twocvbloke]

Looks like a Wild Strawberry plant, they produce some often quite tart berries compared to the run-of-the-mill domestic types of strawberries...

[19and41]

I have noticed the squirrels will have nothing to do with them.  I guess that is a message about how tasty they are.   

[andre_janew]

Squirrels are primarily attracted to nuts.

[19and41]

They will eat fruit too.  I had a little pear tree in the back yard and the squirrels would nip off their stems and let them drop.  If the birds didn't get to them first, you'd see a broad open area where the squirrel would eat on it.  If a bird got it first, it'd have a smaller hole in the skin with all the flesh under the skin eaten out to about a third on each side of the core.

[skyrider]

Looks like snakeberry (common name) to me. If the blooms are yellow then it definitely is. Strawberry blooms are always white. Snakeberry is a weed & not edible.
Kay Compton

[Dan/Panther]

I recall when I was little picking those in the pasture by my Grandparents farm.
Here is a photo of Strawberries I bought yesterday at Walmart.

D/P

[19and41]

I remember when I was little, we used to get in the car and drive out on the country roads looking for the right signs at the likely places for our fruits and vegetables.  There were so many places with roadside stands in southern Michigan.  That's one of the things I miss.  Especially with there being no snow involved during the season.   

[Nick in Manitou]

I remember finding these berries outside of my first grade classroom and eating them. They didn't taste too much like strawberries, but heck, I was 6 or so and eating the berries was fun!

I can not say whether the following information is valid or not, but it sounds good.
From: https://www.quora.com/What-are-snake-berries-and-are-they-edible

"This is Potentilla indica. It is sometimes called "snake berry," "snake strawberry," "scaly strawberry," or "false strawberry." It is originally from Asia, but is grown around the world as a decorate plant, because the berries and yellow flowers are pretty. It is edible, but doesn't taste like much, so people usually don't bother unless they mistake it for an actually-tasty wild strawberry. It has kind of strawberry-looking leaves and crawls over the ground like a strawberry plant."

Nick

[19and41]

When the little things mature, they have a fuzzy appearance and are all red it looks like the fuzz points take the place of the seeds on the real fruits.  They do look pretty and grow where nothing else does.

[19and41]

One other thing about them, they do grow where the little eastern ribbon snakes appear around here.  When I find them and scare them (and them me) they roll over on their back and open their mouth like they are dead.

[HarrySmith]

I recall when I was little picking those in the pasture by my Grandparents farm.
Here is a photo of Strawberries I bought yesterday at Walmart.

D/P

darn! That is one huge Strawberry!!

[twocvbloke]

I recall when I was little picking those in the pasture by my Grandparents farm.
Here is a photo of Strawberries I bought yesterday at Walmart.

D/P

I've seen the plants those come off for sale on ebay and thought about getting a few, but from what I've read, those big strawberries are lacking in flavour, so, I haven't bothered buying the plants, no point growing fruit that isn't tasty...

[19and41]

Not unless they grow themselves like mine do!