Great Burnet

Great Burnet - Sanguisorba officinalis

Description

A medium to tall tufted hairless plant. Leaves pinnate, the lower with 3 to 7 pairs of oval leaflets greyish beneath. Flowers, tiny, dull crimson in dense oval heads 10 to 30 mm long, with no petals, but with stamens (4) and styles.

Similar Species

Salad Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba subsp. sanguisorba) and Fodder Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba subsp. balearicum) - both with rounded leaves

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

Tall plant, usually in damp grassland, leaflets with cordate (heart-shaped) bases

Habitat

Damp habitats and base rich soils.

When to see it

June to September.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Fairly common in the Midlands and northern England but less frequent elsewhere in Britain.

VC55 Status

Quite common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 353 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current checklist (Jeeves 2011), it is listed as locally abundant

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

All NatureSpot records

Photo of the association

Agromyza sulfuriceps

The larva of the Agromyzid fly Agromyza sulfuriceps mines the leaves of various species in the Rosaceae family including Roses, Meadowsweet, Strawberry, Silverweed, Cinquefoil, Raspberry and Burnets. The mine starts as a long corridor, its initial part often along the leaf margin or a thick vein. Rather suddenly the corridor widens into a broad blotch. The corridor contains much frass, often in two distinct patches or lines.

Photo of the association

Great Burnet Rust

Great Burnet Rust (Xenodochus carbonarius) causes galls on the leaves of Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis).  There is no host-pant alternation.  Swollen purple spots on leaf undersides and petioles bear orange aecia; later, black telia are produced on both surfaces of leaves.