Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Fragaria x ananassa Pink Panda (Frel)

It is hybrid between Potentilla palustris (Marsh Cinquefoil)

and Fragaria chiloensis (Beach Strawberry)

Other names

Strawberry Pink Panda, Pink Panda Strawberry

Family

Rosaceae

Flowering season

April to November.

English distribution

Cultivated throughout the country and occasionally found 

in the wild to the west of London.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland –

Fragaria ‘Pink Panda’

Habitat

It is neophyte and selected as a hybrid between Potentilla

palustris and F. chiloensis in the early 1970s.

In the UK it is grown mainly as ornamental ground cover

and in hanging baskets. 

Like most strawberries it is stoloniferous and can spread

rapidly but it is ‘said’ not to be invasive.

In the wild it grows in waste places and is probably the

result of garden throwouts.

Description

 Fragaria 'Pink Panda' is a perennial, clump-forming, spreading

herb growing up to 15cm.

Flowers are 5-merous, pink and on longish stalks.

There are numerous orange stamens.

Carpels.are also numerous, yellow and bourne on a convex

receptacle.

Fragaria 'Pink Panda' sometimes produces medium-sized

 (smaller than Garden strawberries but bigger than Wild

strawberries) edible fruits when the receptacle swells

and becones succulent.

Seeds are are achenes wich are embedded in the surface

of the fruits. The seeds are not fertile in the UK.

Leaves are dark green, ternate with 3 leaflets.

Spread is by runners (stolons) which root from nodes

to form separate plants.