''Geranium sanguineum'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

bloody crane's-bill or bloody geranium, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of hardy flowering

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

in the cranesbill

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Geraniaceae Geraniaceae is a family of flowering plants placed in the order Geraniales. The family name is derived from the genus '' Geranium''. The family includes both the genus '' Geranium'' (the cranesbills, or true geraniums) and the garden plants call ...

. It is the county flower of

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

Etymology

The genus name is derived from the Greek γέρανος ("géranos"), meaning crane, with reference to the fruit capsule resembling the bird's bill. The specific Latin name ''sanguineum'' means 'blood-red'; Linnaeus cites

Gaspard Bauhin Gaspard Bauhin or Caspar Bauhin (; 17 January 1560 – 5 December 1624), was a Switzerland, Swiss botanist whose ''Pinax theatri botanici'' (1623) described thousands of plants and classified them in a manner that draws comparisons to the later ...

's 1623 book ''Pinax theatri botanici'' as his source for the name, which in turn refers ("''sanguinaria radix''") to a blood-red root.

Description

''Geranium sanguineum'' has a hemicryptophyte

plant life-form Plant life-form schemes constitute a way of classifying plants alternatively to the ordinary species-genus-family scientific classification. In colloquial speech, plants may be classified as trees, shrubs, herbs (forbs and graminoids), etc. The sci ...

, with its overwintering buds situated just below the soil surface, and the floral axis more or less erect with a few leaves. It has a thick

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

. The stems are prostrate to ascending, well developed, much branched, and hairy. It reaches on average in height.Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia – Edagricole – 1982. Vol. II, pag. 6 The petiolate leaves have five lobes (or segments), each segment is tripartite with large teeth. The flowers are produced singly (not in clusters, as in many other ''Geranium'' species), 2.5–4 cm diameter, with petals 12–18 mm wide, and are bright crimson.Streeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ''Collins Flower Guide''. Harper Collins The flowering period extends from May to October. The flowers are

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

and pollinated by insects (

entomophily Entomophily or insect pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen of plants, especially but not only of flowering plants, is distributed by insects. Flowers pollinated by insects typically advertise themselves with bright colours, some ...

). The most common flower visitors are Syrphidae and Hymenoptera, but also butterflies and Coleoptera. The fruit is a

schizocarp A schizocarp is a dry fruit that, when mature, splits up into mericarps. There are different definitions: * Any Dry fruits, dry fruit composed of multiple carpels that separate. : Under this definition the mericarps can contain one or more ...

that breaks up into five mericarps when ripe.

Distribution

''Geranium sanguineum'' is

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to most of temperate to subarctic Europe and western Asia. It is also frequent as a garden escape away from native sites.

Habitat

It typically occurs in

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

, being particularly abundant on coastal sand dunes, but also in open woodland on

calcareous soil Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

s, including rocky slopes. It prefers a neutral pH, with low nutritional value, at altitudes from above sea level.

Cultivation

It is cultivated as a garden subject, and a number of different cultivars exist. The following

cultivars A cultivar is a kind of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and which retains those traits when propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cult ...

have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

: *'Album' *'Ankum's Pride' *’Aviemore’ *'Little Bead' *'Shepherd's Warning' *''G. sanguineum'' var. ''striatum'' *''Geranium sanguineum'' var. ''striatum'' 'Splendens'

Gallery

File:(MHNT) Geranium sanguineum - Flower and leaf - Les Martels, Giroussens Tarn.jpg File:Geraniaceae - Geranium sanguineum.JPG File:Geraniaceae - Geranium sanguineum-2.JPG File:Geraniaceae - Geranium sanguineum-1.JPG File:Geraniaceae - Geranium sanguineum-4.JPG File:Geranium sanguineum02.jpg, Fruits showing mericarps File:Geraniaceae - Geranium sanguineum-3.JPG File:Geraniumsangred2.jpg, Autumn leaves image:0 Geranium sanguineum 'Striatum'- Samoëns.JPG, 'Striatum'

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q158387 sanguineum Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus