The Beach or Dune Strawberry is a useful native ground cover from the dune plant community. In its natural, coastal environment, it helps to stabilize shifting sand dunes. Beach strawberries send out runners that root and then send out more runners, eventually making a web of sorts, holding the sand together and allowing other plants to establish.

A distant relative of the rose, its berries are edible, but not quite as tasty as the typical hybrid strawberries most people are familiar with.

In residential designs, beach strawberry thrives with moderate irrigation and sandy soil, often forming a thick mat of rounded green leaves, white flowers and green to red berries. The plant is a perfect choice for homes near the coast that get heavy wind and fog.