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 Botany
A perennial herb spreading through
runners. The leaves , borne on long stalks, are compound with three-foliate
and toothed . The flowers are white with five petals that fall off shortly
after pollination, and from the receptacle forms the sweet and red fruit.
Distribution
Widely cultivated in the Trinidad
valley of Benguet.
Parts
utilized
Whole plant.
Constituents
and properties
- Studies have yielded ellagic acid,
flavonoids, carotenoids and terpenoids responsibe for antioxidant activity.
- Leaf and fruit yield flavonoid, tannin, borneol and ellagic acid.
- Fruit and leaves have been shown to contain: cissotanic, malic and citric acids, sugar, pectin, vitamin C, potassium, manganese, fiber, ellagitannins, ellagic acid, pelargonidin, cyanidin, anthocyanins, omega-3 FA, riboflavin, folate, magnesium, copper.
Properties
Considered alterative, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, astringent, calmative, depurative, diuretic, laxative,
refrigerant and tonic.
Uses
Edibility
Fresh leaves used to make tea.
In India, roots used to make a coffee substitute.
Folkloric
The leaf tea claimed to improve the appetite; also as a mild astringent
for diarrhea and digestive upsets and a cleansing diuretic.for rheumatic
disorders
The leaf decoction also used for chronic diarrhea.
The roots has same medicinal properties.
Fruit used for intestinal worms, gout, arthritis, jaundice, liver and
stomach problems.
For bladder stones, the juice of fresh strawberry is taken before breakfast;
also, preventive.
Also used for podagra.
Dyspepsia.
In Campania, Italy, leaf
infusion used as appetizer. Leaves used topically on wounds. source
In folk medicine elsewhere, for diabetes, cancder, hypertension,
tuberculosis, tumores, and urogenital problems.
Others
Cosmetics: Fruit has been used for toning and whitening the skin, for combating wrinkles and freckles, soothing sunburn and whitening teeth.
Studies
• Cardiovascular
Effects: Study on the aqueous extracts of wild strawberry
leaves showed direct, endothelium-dependent vasodilation activity mediated
by NO and cyclooxygenase products, with a potency similar to hawthorn
aqueous extract.
• Analgesic: Study
on the ethanolic extracts of fruit and whole plant showed significant
central and peripheral analgesic activity, the the fruit extract showing
better analgesic.effect than the plant extract.
• Antioxidant: (1) Study
of 23 Bulgarian medicinal plants included Fragaria vesca to be one of
five plants extracts that exhibited higher antioxidant activity. A positive
correlation between antioxidant activity and polyphenol content. (2) Study data indicated that wild strawberries have a slightly higher total antioxidant capacity content than cultivated strawberries. Altitude did not report differences.
Caution
• Pesticides: Strawberries not organically grown probably contain pesticides, especially in the U.S. On average, strawberries receive a dose of up to 500 pounds of pesticides per acre. Other countries use less-than-stringent regulations for pesticide use.
Availability
Cultivated
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