Anyone who ran around the meadow as a child may remember him. The meadow cranesbill is increasingly found in meadows, but it also finds a home elsewhere. What characteristics and requirements does it have?
What are the characteristics and requirements of the meadow cranesbill?
The meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense) is a perennial plant from the cranesbill family. It grows upright and bushy, has lobed, hairy foliage and flowers in a light blue-violet color from June to August. The meadow cranesbill prefers sunny to partially shaded locations and nutrient-rich, moist soil.
All noteworthy facts at a glance
- Plant family: Cranesbill family
- Botanical name: Geranium pratense
- Origin: Europe, China, Siberia
- Occurrence: roadsides, meadows, gardens, rivers
- Growth: upright, bushy
- Foliage: heavily lobed, deciduous, hairy
- Flowering period: June to August
- Flowers: cup-shaped, fivefold, light blue-violet
- Fruits: split fruits
- Location: sunny to partially shaded
- Soil: nutrient-rich, moist
- Special features: edible, medicinal
A perennial flower with healing potential
The meadow cranesbill is perennial thanks to its strong rootstock in the ground. Unlike some other cranesbill plants, it is not poisonous but edible. For example, you can eat its young leaves, buds and flowers. It has a cooling, decongestant and anti-inflammatory effect and helps, among other things:
- Insomnia
- Hot flashes
- Bleeding
- Warts
- Ulcers
Hairy from bottom to top
It rises between 30 and 100 cm high. Its growth is upright and takes on a bushy, herbaceous appearance. The slender stems are hairy. The leaves also have many fine hairs. Admittedly, this makes consumption less of a culinary highlight.
The long-stemmed leaves have 5 to 7 lobes. The lobes are strongly pronounced. They taper to a point at the end, while they are coarsely toothed at the edge. The color is a dull green. In autumn the foliage is shed.
Beautiful flowers and extraordinary fruits
The flowers appear from June. They are present until August and in exceptional cases until September. They usually occur in pairs. They are very similar to the forest cranesbill. But they are bluer than the flowers of the forest dweller.
Here are further characteristics of the flowers and the fruits that follow them:
- 3 to 4 cm wide
- 5 petals and 5 sepals
- light blue-violet flower color
- dark veins
- cup-shaped
- wide open
- leaning downward when it rains
- beaked fruits that throw out their seeds from September
Tip
How about a trip to the meadow, collecting the meadow cranesbill and then a wild herb salad or a soup with the buds of this plant?
