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: strongly lobed, deciduous, hairy
- Flowering period: June to August
- Flowers: cup-shaped, five-fold, 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. In contrast to 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 with, among other things:
- insomnia
- Hot flashes
- Bleeding
- Warts
- Ulcers
also read
- Klee in the garden: a short profile of the meadow clover
- Improve half-knowledge: the bluestar in the profile
- The cranesbill in the profile
Hairy from bottom to top
It rises between 30 and 100 cm. Its growth is upright and takes on a bushy, herbaceous appearance. The slender stems are hairy. The leaves also have many fine hairs. Admittedly: That makes eating less of a culinary highlight.
The long-stalked leaves are 5- to 7-lobed. The lobes are very pronounced. At the end they are pointed, while they are roughly toothed on the edge. The color describes a dull green. The foliage is thrown off in autumn.
Beautiful flowers and extraordinary fruits
The flowers appear from June. They are present until August and in exceptional cases until September. They usually appear in pairs. They are very similar to the forest cranesbill. But they are more bluish 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 vein
- cupped
- wide open
- leaning down when it rains
- beaked fruits that throw their seeds out from September
Tips
How about a trip to the meadow, collecting the meadow cranesbill and then a wild herb salad or a soup made with the buds of this plant?
