Salad Burnet is a
native
perennial plant of the UK, typically found growing in chalk grassland and rocky areas, to a mature height of up to 70cm.
Salad Burnet takes its name from its traditional use as a food source and the name 'Burnet' in Middle English meaning 'brown' (describing the plant's 'brownish' flowers). The flowers of Salad Burnet are packed together into spherical compound flowerheads, with reddish-brown buds and stems. On opening, the tepal colour is actually green, with tufts of red to brownish-red styles and dangling cream anthers at the end of reddish-brown filaments.
Botanic classification and naming: Salad Burnet is a member of the Rose (Rosaceae) family. The genus name
'Sanguisorba' identifies the plant as a Burnet and its species name 'minor' means 'small-sized plant'.
Concerns: Note that unsupervised foraging may cause damage to wild plants and misidentification of forage species may be dangerous. The complete removal of a plant from the wild is illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).
Benefits: Caterpillar food plant of the Grizzled Skipper butterfly, the Mouse Moth and the Fox Moth.
Benefits to wildlife are also indicated with orange icons in the plant profile bar at the top.
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