£7.00
10 in stock
Sanguisorba menziesii. An unusual and rather special plant for the summer border. Lovely mounds of dissected and smartly toothed grey-green leaves emerge early and act as a valuable foil for Spring bulbs. Then in June it sends up lots of long wiry self-supporting stems, each crowded with neat, almost cone-like flowers, each tightly packed with dried blood red florets which then erupt into shaggy pink foxtails. Makes an interesting focal point and especially good as a cut flower.
10 in stock
An unusual and rather special plant for the summer border. Lovely mounds of dissected and smartly toothed grey-green leaves emerge early and act as a valuable foil for Spring bulbs. Then in June it sends up lots of long wiry self-supporting stems, each crowded with neat, almost cone-like flowers, each tightly packed with dried blood red florets which then erupt into shaggy pink foxtails. Sanguisorba menziesii makes an interesting focal point and especially good as a cut flower.
Origin – Canary Islands
Bloodroot, or Sanguisorba offincinalis is native to Europe including the British Isles, though it is not widespread. The Midlands and North are where you would mostly find it. It grows in damp meadows and pasture as do most Sanguisorba, the notable exception being Sanguisorba minor which grows on dry grassy or rocky places, often on lime. The related Sanguisorba minor (salad burnet) is found on chalk and limestone grassland and grows further north and South.
People grow Sanguisorbas for their flowers which are either pink or white bottle-brushes or cone-like on well branched airy flower stalks. The foliage is equally attractive being pinnate like a Rowan tree. The suit the border or more naturalistic plantings equally well.
The common name for the burnets comes from the colour of the flowerheads, burnet is a word for crimson-red. The Latin name comes from the use of the herb in antiquity for staunching bleeding. The Latin ‘sanguis’=blood and ‘sorbeo’=I asorb, hence Sanguisorba. Sanguisorba officinalis (Greater Burnet) has the strongest medicinal effect and was the herbalists plant of choice for staunching bleeding both internal and external. Do not use Sanguisorba medicinally unless supervised by a trained professional. Sanguisorba minor (Salad Burnet) has similar but milder effect and was much used in the past. It was used to flavour wine. Gerard says of it – ‘the leaves steeped in wine and drunken comfort the heart and make it merry and are good against the trembling and shaking thereof.’ It was used in such quantity that it was formally known as ‘Toper’s Plant’.
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