Great Burnet

Sanguisorba officinalis

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Rosales

Family:

Rosaceae (Rose)

Also in this family:

Alpine Lady's-mantle, Barren Strawberry, Bearberry Cotoneaster, Bird Cherry, Blackthorn, Bramble, Bullate Cotoneaster, Burnet Rose, Cherry Laurel, Common Agrimony, Common Hawthorn, Common Lady's-mantle, Common Whitebeam, Crab Apple, Creeping Chinese Bramble, Creeping Cinquefoil, Cultivated Apple, Cultivated Pear, Dewberry, Dog Rose, Dropwort, Entire-leaved Cotoneaster, Firethorn, Fragrant Agrimony, Franchet's Cotoneaster, Garden Lady's-mantle, Goatsbeard Spiraea, Greengage Plum, Hairless Lady's-mantle, Hollyberry Cotoneaster, Japanese Quince, Japanese Rose, Jew's Mallow, Late Cotoneaster, Marsh Cinquefoil, Meadowsweet, Midland Hawthorn, Mountain Ash, Pale Lady's-mantle, Parsley Piert, Portuguese Laurel, Purple-flowered Raspberry, Raspberry, Rock Whitebeam, Salad Burnet, Shrubby Cinquefoil, Silverweed, Southern Downy Rose, Spring Cinquefoil, Sulphur Cinquefoil, Swedish Whitebeam, Tormentil, Wall Cotoneaster, Water Avens, Waterer's Cotoneaster, Wild Cherry, Wild Plum, Wild Strawberry, Willow-leaved Bridewort, Wood Avens

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

1 metre tall

Habitats:

Ditches, floodplains, grassland, meadows, riverbanks, riversides, roadsides.

Flower:

Red, 4 petals

Oval burgundy-coloured flower heads on long stalks.

Fruit:

An achene which is a small one seeded dry nut.

Leaves:

Alternate, long-stalked, compound leaves with up to 7 pairs of oval, stalked and toothed leaflets.

Other Names:

Burnet Bloodwort, Common Burnet, Garden Burnet, Greater Burnet, Greater Salad Burnet, Italian Burnet, Italian Pimpernel, Official Burnet.

Frequency (UK):

Common

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map