Can Mock Strawberry Be Eaten, and What Is Its Market Price per Jin?

Mock Strawberry Aliases: wild strawberry, snake bubble grass, dragon spits pearl, three-claw wind, nosebleed fruit, pearl claw, snake fruit, cockscomb fruit, etc. Rosaceae, perennial herb, the whole plant has soft hairs, creeping stems long. Leaflets obovate to rhombic-oblong, 2-3.5(-5) cm long, 1-3 cm wide; flowers solitary in leaf axils; 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter; achenes ovate, about 1.5 mm long, smooth or with inconspicuous protrusions, glossy when fresh. Flowering period June-August, fruiting period August-October. Mostly wild on hillsides, grasslands, roadsides, ditch edges or in weeds on field ridges, distributed throughout the country.

Mock strawberry and the edible strawberry both belong to the Rosaceae family, but mock strawberry contains a little bit of toxicity. However, eating a small amount will not cause poisoning; if eaten in large quantities, there is a risk of poisoning, which may lead to food poisoning and diarrhea. Generally, mock strawberry is not eaten as a fruit. Besides the fact that its slightly toxic nature can cause poisoning when eaten in excess, it is also because mock strawberry is not as delicious and tasty as ordinary fruits. Mock strawberry has a poor taste and is bland and flavorless, so it does not have the value of being eaten as a daily fruit.

However, compared with its toxicity, its medicinal value is higher. Once used as medicine, mock strawberry can clear heat and detoxify, dissipate blood stasis and reduce swelling, and has effects such as clearing heat, detoxifying, and fighting cancer. It can be used to treat diseases such as cold and fever, cough, sore and swollen throat, and diphtheria. It can also treat snake and insect bites. From this point of view, its weak toxicity will not affect mock strawberry's status as a medicine with many effects.

In traditional Chinese medicine, mock strawberry is a medicinal material, that is, what we often call mock strawberry dried herb or snake bubble grass, so mock strawberry circulates in the medicinal material market. According to data on pharmaceutical distribution websites, the price of mock strawberry is about 15 yuan per 1 kg, and it is generally marketed in April, May, and June, when some people will buy mock strawberry.

However, on the all-powerful Taobao, mock strawberry is also sold, and the price is relatively more expensive. One jin of mock strawberry dried herb reaches more than 50 yuan. If you often suffer from excess internal heat and are relatively heaty, you can buy some to take home and boil in water to drink, which can achieve the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, and also has a good curative effect on sore and swollen throat.