Sanguisorba minor - (Poterium saguisorba) – Salad Burnet

A short to medium height grassland perennial with greyish pinnate leaves and a rounded flower head of small green flowers with bright red styles (see main photograph). The leaves smell and taste pleasantly of cucumber. NB In future we will be listing this species under the Latin name ‘Poterium sanguisorda ssp sanguisorba’ in line with the third edition of Stace.

Type	Seeds per gram	Origin	Ordering
Grassland Perennial	300	Somerset, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire	Order this species

Habitat Information
This long lived winter-green perennial is found mainly on dry, infertile chalk or limestone grasslands and less frequently on moist calcareous boulder clays. Although its spring growth is relatively slow it continues to grow into summer when other species have stopped or slowed down. It can do this because of its long tap root which allows it to exploit water out of reach to many other species.
Salad burnet is most abundant on downland but can also be found in a range of other habitats including meadows, roadside banks and quarries.

Growing Information
Sow at any time of the year. Seed germinates in the spring or autumn.