Magenta, cup-shaped flowers over deeply cut, dark green leaves that turn red in autumn, on limestone pavement or coastal dunes
Bloody cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Bloody cranesbill
Native · flowers Jun–Aug · limestone grassland, dunes and coastal rocks
Geranium sanguineum — Geraniaceae
Bloody cranesbill is a clump-forming perennial with large magenta, cup-shaped flowers and deeply cut, dark green leaves that turn red in autumn. It grows on limestone pavement and grassland, dunes, heaths and coastal rocks, mainly in northern England and Wales, and is the county flower of Northumberland. Its seed pods are shaped like a crane's bill and fling out the seeds when ripe.
How to spot them
- ▸Vivid magenta, saucer-shaped flowers 2.5–3 cm across, five notched petals with darker veins
- ▸Round leaves cut deep — almost to the base — into five to seven narrow lobes, often flushing red in autumn
- ▸Clump-forming and sprawling, up to about 25 cm, on limestone, dunes and rocks
- ▸Long-beaked fruits like a crane's bill, which split and catapult the seeds
- ▸Look-alikes: meadow crane's-bill (violet-blue, in hay meadows, taller) and dovesfoot crane's-bill (small pink flowers, softly hairy, on bare ground). The rich magenta cups and deeply cut leaves are the mark of this species
How to know it
County flower of Northumberland, chosen in Plantlife's public vote in 2002
Bloody cranesbill.
The name refers either to the blood-red autumn foliage or the deep colour of the flowers; the second word refers to the long beak on its fruit
Bloody crane's-bill — sanguineum means bloody.
Its nectar-rich flowers attract bees, particularly buff-tailed and white-tailed bumblebees
Bloody crane's-bill — Wildlife Trusts.
A paler, streaked pink form of this magenta plant is known on Walney Island, Cumbria, where it is treated as a distinct variety
Bloody cranesbill var. striatum — the Walney geranium.
Long beak-like fruits split when ripe and hurl the seeds away, giving the family its name
Bloody cranesbill — Geraniaceae, cranesbills.
Quick-fire facts
- •Native perennial, up to about 25 cm; flowers June to August (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Grows on limestone pavement, calcareous grassland, heathland, moorland, dunes and coastal rocks; most frequent in northern England and Wales, and absent from south-east England (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Family Geraniaceae; the true 'geranium' of the wild is a cranesbill, while the bedding 'geranium' is a Pelargonium
- •County flower of Northumberland in Plantlife's 2002 county flowers campaign
- •Nectar-rich flowers are favoured by bees, including buff-tailed and white-tailed bumblebees (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Petals fade subtly in colour as they age
- •Walney geranium, var. striatum, is a pale pink, dark-veined form found on the dunes of Walney Island
- •Rated common by the Wildlife Trusts; also a popular garden plant
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Bloody crane's-bill