Factsheet S31: Strawberry species

Although the strawberry of commerce was only brought into domestication some 250 years ago, indigenous strawberries have been cultivated for at least 2000 years, and no doubt they were harvested in the wild for their fruits for many thousands of years before that.
Indigenous species are not only a source of fruit (sometimes of far better flavour than cultivated types); some have long been used medicinally, and most make a good component of ground cover.