Wild Strawberries.

[jdmidwest]

I have noticed in past years something I have never seen until I started raising strawberries.  Wild strawberries growing in the yard.  They have formed a mat around the area where I am growing the berries now.  My berries are smaller than normal this year and I am wondering if some cross breeding is going on.

[MOPanfisher]

There is some sort of fake wild strawberry looking plant that is very common in yards etc.  The "berries" are tiny even compared to actual wild berries and have no taste what so ever.  

[jdmidwest]

The berries are red like a strawberry, but don't look like them up close.  But the leaf pattern on the plant resembles commercial berries.  The blooms are yellow and not white.

Looked around and found this, Mock Strawberry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_strawberry

[ness]

1 hour ago, MOPanfisher said:

There is some sort of fake wild strawberry looking plant that is very common in yards etc.  The "berries" are tiny even compared to actual wild berries and have no taste what so ever.  

That’s what I was gonna say. I had them for a while in a couple places. But, if they’re growing right where the strawberries are, they might be the real deal. If the strawberries were hybrids, there might be a parent growing. 

[jdmidwest]

Berries don't look right, but leaf pattern matches.

My name berries are smaller in size on the tame ones this year.   But the plants come from root stock, not seeds, so it can't be crossbreeding.

[MOPanfisher]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_strawberry. 

I did a quick search and found the mock strawberry.  I can't see the berries well enough in your pic to tell.  Shouldn't be any cross breeding as they are different genus.  My strawberries this year were smaller and ripened earlier than usual.  I think the fast change from spring to summer cut short their growth and caused the to ripen early.  Several years ago I decided to cultivate wild strawberries I found in my pasture.  They went freaking nuts, growing huge but not making fruit.  Finally had to pull and spray them to get rid of them.