barren strawberry

American  

noun

1. a low-growing plant, Waldsteinia fragarioides, of the rose family, native to north temperate regions, having long stalks with three toothed leaflets and yellow flowers.

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Etymology

Origin of barren strawberry

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95; so called because the fruit is dry and inedible

Example Sentences

One tiny white flower of barren strawberry has ventured to bloom.

From The Open Air by Jefferies, Richard

Other plants with runners much like the strawberry are: several kinds of crowfoot, barren strawberry, cinquefoil, strawberry geranium, and orange hawkweed.

From Seed Dispersal by Beal, W. J. (William James)

The tiny white petals of the barren strawberry open under the April sunshine which, as yet unchecked by crowded foliage above, can reach the moist banks under the trees.

From Nature Near London by Jefferies, Richard

Thus the common bean was dedicated to St. Ignatius, and the blue hyacinth to St. Dorothy, while to St. Hilary the barren strawberry has been assigned.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

Among the shrunken leaves on the turf here and there are the white flowers of the barren strawberry.

From The Life of the Fields by Jefferies, Richard