Great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) is a plant that is
found on damp grasslands in central England and Wales.
The plant grows from 12 to 36 inches (32-90 cm) high and it
flowers between June and September. The stems are upright and hairless. The
leaves are composed of paired rows of toothed leaflets.
The flowers of this plant are bisexual, in that each flower
has both male and female parts that produce abundant nectar for insect
pollination. Each flower-head has an oblong outline. The fruit has four wings.
People who studied herbs in the past believed in what was
known as the doctrine of signatures – this meant that plants advertised their
medicinal powers by outward signs. In the case of great burnet, the dark
crimson flower-heads suggested blood, and for centuries the plant was used to
staunch wounds and as a remedy for internal bleeding.
In more recent times, a root of great burnet, if freshly dug
up and peeled, was applied to burns to relieve the pain and encourage healing.
This reputation is preserved in the botanical name, the first part of which
means blood-absorbing.
Great burnet is not as common as it once was due to the
increased efficiency of British farming.
Salad burnet, which can indeed be eaten in salads, is
related to great burnet but is much smaller having male only flowers in the
lower part of the head, which flower first, while the female and bisexual
flowers, which are higher up the head, open later. This is a common device used
by wind-pollinated plants to avoid self-fertilisation.
© John Welford
Stunning!
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