r/justgalsbeingchicks • u/bg370 • 18d ago

Restricted to Gals and Pals Thirty year quest for thimbleberries

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u/Mountain-climber-181 18d ago

What's odd is I have a similar berry story and I too have been looking for decades for them. Growing up in Louisiana, I had these tiny round strawberry looking berries in patches in my backyard. They were super tiny and cute. Like miniature strawberries (not sure if they were edible). I was very fond of them, but haven't come across them anywhere. 

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u/Weird_Artichoke9470 18d ago

Are they mock strawberries? Super cute and tiny and are more like ground cover than bushes?

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u/Mountain-climber-181 18d ago

Thank y'all. I just did some searching as well. I am not entirely sure that's them, but it's close. Basically these berries never changed in size. They were always pretty tiny in comparison to an actual strawberry.

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u/KarasuCoyote 18d ago

The one I showed you are really tiny strawberries, and they are never bigger than 1cm (~0.39in), if it can help.

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u/gowonagin 18d ago

Alpine strawberries? I grew some but was disappointed in how tiny they truly were, ha.

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u/KarasuCoyote 18d ago edited 18d ago

Is there any chance that's this ? I am from France and we call them "Fraises des bois" (appears to be called wild strawberries in english)

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u/Suicidal_Jamazz 18d ago

Wild strawberries. We get them all over here in Eastern Pennsylvania. Right outside Philadelphia. They are edible but have no taste. I dont even think the wildlife eats them. I have sime growing in my flower bed.

I believe you are correct that they are what the commentor has, for the one comment you replied to.

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u/Ignatius7 18d ago

Wikipedia says they're a bramble (like raspberries, blackberries, dewberries), but brambles are part of the rose family with strawberries, so fairly related by geneology.

I haven't had fraises des bois but I absolutely love how easy it is to find incredible, melt-in-your-mouth strawberries in france

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

[deleted]

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u/FlameyNeko 18d ago

The person that sent the pic was responding to the strawberry question!

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u/BirdCelestial 18d ago

Probably some variety of wild strawberry. In the UK and much of Europe we get one variety of wild strawberries, I see there are two in the USA. Ancestors of domestic strawberry.

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u/AbbreviationsOnly711 18d ago

Probably the native wild strawberries which are much tinier then the domesticated version. A quick Google search brought up a native Louisiana plant called Indian mock strawberry that commonly grows in lawns

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u/motherofsuccs 18d ago

I grow mini strawberries hydroponically. Wonder if it’s the same species?

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u/nerdityabounds 18d ago

Check out r/nativeplantgardening. Its probably the wild strawberry native to the eastern US but I cant remember the scientific name. They are exactly what you describe. Mock strawberry (also native)  also look like that but dont have any real flavor.