Coastal strawberry is an ideal evergreen ground cover for sunny, but not sun-baked sites. Unlike other strawberries it spreads slowly and forms a dense near-continuous cover. Like you would with other wild strawberries, try raising coastal strawberry from seed sown in the fall over a sand-humus mixture. Native people of the B.C. coast savoured the small fruits fresh, but unlike many other wild fruits, did not dry them because they are too juicy. Some coastal peoples steeped leaves of strawberries to make sweet, clear tea.
Coastal strawberry is one of the parents of our modern cultivated strawberry.
Material collected from Chile was crossed in Europe, with widespread North American wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana, during the early 19th century. Today coastal strawberries from the province continue to be used to improve commercial varieties. Incidentally the scientific name Fragaria has its origins in the word fraga , the Latin name for strawberry. For more information contact Richard Hebda at the Royal British Columbia Museum. All rights reserved.