I am wracking my brain with this one. It is a weed with leaves that resemble strawberry leaves. I have never seen them flower. They have long, thinnish tap roots which are black, but they also spread with runners, much like a strawberry. However, strawberries they aint! Any ideas??
Sounds like I have those. If I'm right about you weed, we call them creeping marigolds, Ranunculus repens. They can blanket a piece of bare soil in no time, but are fairly easy to dig up.
Or it could be a Potentilla. We have one in our grass which fits your description. Never found out its full name though, too busy spraying Verdone on it!
I have some Duchesnea indica in my flower garden--not as a desired plant, but a weed. A very pernicious weed at that. I can never get 100% rid of it. It has little yellow flowers and red strawberry/like fruits. I believe that the scientisdts are planning on including this plant in the Potentilla family. Perhaps it is well suited there. I have a Potentilla nepalensis which does not look or act like the little terror that you are describing, but the leaves and flower shape look similiar in shape. The Potentilla nepalensis is a much larger plant with larger leaves and it´s little flower comes on a stem that is about a foot long. Anyway, I digress... I hope that this helps, but in my opinion-- the only thing that helps is piulling this tenaciuous little invader out by it´s roots and burning it. heh heh heh Good luck EJ.
Well, I believe it is something along the lines of cinqfoil. Blasted weeds. If I am not battling ground elder in one persons garden, then I am battling bindweed in another, horse tail on the allotment and creeping buttercup at home!