Flora of Israel: Mock Strawberry

Potentilla indica, Duchesnea indica, Fragaria indica, Mock Strawberry, Indian strawberry,

Hebrew: תותית הודית, Arabic عشبة القوى

Scientific name:   Potentilla indica (Andrews) Th. Wolf
Synonym name:   Duchesnea indica (Andrews.)Focke., Fragaria indica Andrews
Common name:   Mock Strawberry, Indian strawberry
Hebrew name:   תותית הודית
Arabic name:   عشبة القوى
Family:   Rosaceae, Rose family, ורדיים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte
Stems:   Up to 50cm; height of flowering plant 5-15cm
Leaves:   Trifoliate, rather long-petiolate; leaflets obovate, crenate, with a cuneate (wedge-shaped) base
Inflorescence:   Flower solitary in axils, pedicel 2–13 cm
Flowers:   Hermaphrodite, 5 bractlets, 5 sepals c.10mm; 5 petals c.8mm, yellow; stamens 20, sepals 4–10 mm; bractlets = sepals but wider, obovate, 3-toothed; petals 4–8 mm, obovate-oblong
Fruits / pods:   Receptacle ± 1 cm wide, spheric-ovoid, ± pithy, tasteless; achenes 1–1.5 mm, red
Flowering Period:   April, May, June
Habitat:   Nutrient-rich soil
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   South- and Southeast Asia
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Potentilla, Latin potens, powerful; in reference to the medicinal properties of some species.

indica, of or pertaining to India, Indian.
Duchesnea, named in honor of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne (1747 – 1827), a French botanist and horticulturist.
fragarioides, resembling strawberry or Fragaria.
Fragaria, Latin fraga, strawberry, which derives from fragrans, fragrant, from the fragrance of the fruit.
strawberry, from strewn berry meaning the berries were strewn on the plants; that in time was shortened to strawberry.
The Hebrew name: תותית, tutit, from Aramaic: תותא, תות (Post Biblical Hebrew) mulberry; Arabic: tut.

  • The standard author abbreviation Andrews. is used to indicate Henry Charles Andrews (1794 – 1830), an English botanist, botanical artist and engraver.
  • The standard author abbreviation Th. Wolf is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Focke. is used to indicate Wilhelm Olbers Focke (1834 – 1922), a German medical doctor and botanist

Potentilla indica is frequently mistaken for wild strawberries, except that its flowers are yellow, rather than white, and the trifoliate leaves are lower-growing and smaller in size. While the drupes of Wild Strawberry tend to hang downward (with the reddish green sepals above), the drupes of Mock Strawberry are held erect with the green sepals originating beneath each drupe.