五叶草莓 wu ye cao mei

Herbs perennial, (6–)10–15 cm tall. Stems taller than leaves, together with petioles densely spreading pilose or sometimes appressed-ascending pilose. Petiole 2–8 cm; leaf blade pinnately 5-foliolate; terminal leaflet shortly petiolulate, distal lateral ones sessile, obovate or elliptic, 1–4 × 0.6–3 cm, base cuneate on terminal leaflet, oblique on lateral ones, margin acutely or obtusely incised serrate, apex rounded; proximal lateral leaflets shortly petiolulate or subsessile, much smaller than distal ones, 6–10 × 4–8 mm. Inflorescence corymbiform, (1 or)2 or 3(or 4)-flowered, with pale brown or petiolate, leafletlike bract at base. Flowers bisexual; pedicel 1.5–2 cm. Sepals 5, ovate-lanceolate, abaxially pubescent; epicalyx segments lanceolate, occasionally 2-fid, nearly equaling but narrower than sepals. Petals white, suborbicular, base tapering into a short claw. Stamens ca. 20, unequal. Carpels numerous. Aggregate fruit ripening red, ovoid; persistent sepals prominently reflexed. Achenes ovoid, ca. 0.5 mm wide, rugose only at base. Fl. Apr–May, fr. May–Jun. 2n = 14*.

Forests, forest clearings, scrub, mountain meadows, open gravels; 1000--2700 m. Chongqing, Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan.

White-fruited plants from SE Xizang (Mt Gyala Peri) were described as Fragaria pentaphylla f. alba Staudt & Dickoré (Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 123: 348. 2001). Fragaria tibetica Staudt & Dickoré (loc. cit.: 349) was described from S Xizang, extending to NW Yunnan and possibly W Sichuan. It differs from F. pentaphylla in having unisexual flowers (plants dioecious) and a tetraploid chromosome number (2n = 28). White-fruited plants from the Lancang Jiang-Nu Jiang divide in SE Xizang and NW Yunnan were described as f. alba Staudt & Dickoré (loc. cit.: 351).