Bloody Crane's-bill Geranium sanguineum

The splash of brilliant magenta that these plants lend to the landscape are highly attractive to bumblebees as well as passers-by.

The five-petalled, cup shaped flowers are held on slim stems and the leaves are deeply divided with white hairs on the underside. It is a clump-forming, perennial plant and its leaves turn red in Autumn.

Where to find Bloody Crane's-bill

This wild plant occurs mainly on the coast and inland on limestone pavements and cliff edges. It prefers calcareous grassland, open woods and sand dunes. It can survive on extremely thin layers of organic matter.

How is it doing?

The Bloody Crane's-bill is widespread in its preferred habitat.

Did you know?

• It is the county flower of Northumberland and adorns the county's cliffs and dunes. It has spread inland to the rocks of the Whin Sill. Perhaps an appropriate choice for a county with a romantic but undeniably bloody history of border wars and coastal raiding.
• Geranium derives from the Greek for crane and the common name refers to the shape of the plant's seed capsule.
• Seed pods explode to disperse the seeds away from the parent plant.
• 'Bloody' refers to the colour of the stalk-joints.