Potentilla indica - Indian Strawberry

Indian Strawberry is a very common wildflower found throughout the Himalayas, characterized by a strawberry like fruit, and yellow flowers. It is a perennial herb, spreading, hairy, runners 25-90 cm long. Leaves are trifoliolate, hairy on both surfaces, sometimes above hairless, leaflets obovate to rhombic-oblong, 1-4 x 0.7-2 cm, lateral leaflets slightly smaller than at branch-ends, margins coarsely sawtoothed. Stipules are lanceshaped 3-9 mm. Flowers are yellow, 1.2-2 cm across, on flower-stalks up to 10 cm long. Sepals are ovate with pointed tip, hairy. False sepals are obovate, hairy, broader than sepals, as long as or sometimes longer than sepals, tip 3-5 lobed. Petals are oblong to obovate, as long as to slightly longer than sepals, yellow. Stamens are 20-25. Fruit is like a small round strawberry, fleshy, red, 0.7-1.5 cm in diameter. Indian Strawberry is found in the Himalayas, at altitudes of 700-2500 m. Flowering: March-October.