Species
+

Sanguisorba officinalis L.

Great Burnet, Großer Wiesenknopf (DE); Great Burnet, Official burnet (EN), Wulki wohenčk

Climate known 42 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Sanguisorba officinalis, commonly known as great burnet, is a plant in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. It is native throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, northern Asia, and northern North America.

Text from Wikipedia, “Sanguisorba officinalis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Sanguisorba

Sanguisorba is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rosaceae native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The common name is burnet.

Text from Wikipedia, “Sanguisorba”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Rosaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland +70
Wild records
579 in range· 138 open

At a glance

Warmest month
23°C
Jul, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
817mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 85 mm (CHELSA)
Light
4–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 817 mm a year, wettest July at 85 mm, driest April at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -14.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Pimpinella officinalis (L.) Gaertn.; Pimpinella officinalis (L.) Lam.; Poterium boreale Salisb.; Poterium officinale (L.) A.Gray; Poterium officinale (L.) F.B.Forbes & Hemsl. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (591 mm of 817 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 19.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 817 mm a year, wettest July at 85 mm, driest April at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

817 mm a year at the habitat, 591 mm of it May to December. Wettest month July at 85 mm, driest April at 49 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 542 mm to 1471 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 3, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -14.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -14.8 °C, the absolute minimum -28.6 °C, about 118 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -3.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells -15.3 °C to 0.9 °C), warmest day 22.6 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -14.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 3 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul; mean night from -4 °C in Jan to 14 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 817 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 476 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -28.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost32.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-28.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 4–35RH 59–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 476 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C3 / -9–65 / -8–79 / -1–1013 / 9–1518 / 14–2020 / 17–2323 / 20–2522 / 19–2518 / 15–2014 / 8–157 / -1–93 / -7–6
Night °C-4 / -15–1-3 / -15–10 / -9–34 / -1–58 / 5–1012 / 9–1314 / 11–1614 / 11–1510 / 7–126 / 1–81 / -7–4-2 / -13–2
Rain mm62 / 27–10251 / 24–8964 / 26–11449 / 31–9968 / 44–13177 / 59–15085 / 61–17278 / 56–16074 / 49–13173 / 37–12369 / 38–11067 / 34–117
DLI6 / 4–1011 / 9–1619 / 16–2528 / 26–3133 / 32–3635 / 32–3834 / 32–3729 / 26–3220 / 18–2412 / 10–176 / 5–114 / 3–8
RH %67 / 61–7365 / 60–7062 / 59–6559 / 56–6259 / 54–6260 / 56–6360 / 56–6360 / 57–6462 / 58–6564 / 61–6667 / 63–6968 / 62–72

Each figure is the median across the 476 grid cells holding the 573 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 800:3889 (49.975, 14.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -28.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -14.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 476 distinct grid cells holding the 573 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 800:3889 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 50.00_14.375, lapse-corrected -19 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 335 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreat Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, France, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Amur, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Magadan, Primorye, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Turkey, China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, Qinghai, China Southeast, Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Alaska, Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California· introduced: Finland, Peru
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker50.856, 6.157 · in the densest population, 304 records (53% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 579 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 138 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 288 km away. 1 record outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 6 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 579 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Sanguisorba officinalisSanguisorba officinalisSanguisorba officinalisSanguisorba officinalisSanguisorba officinalisSanguisorba officinalisSanguisorba officinalisSanguisorba officinalis

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Patrick Hacker, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Сергей Крыленко, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Sanguisorba officinalis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of selected Chinese medicinal plants and their relation with antioxidant content
Anjaneya S. Ravipati, Lin Zhang, Sundar Rao Koyyalamudi, Sang Chul Jeong (2012) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Active-Oxygen Scavenging Activity of Plant Extracts.
Hitoshi Masaki, Sachiko Sakaki, T Atsumi, Hiromu Sakurai (1995) · Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Screening for antimicrobial activity of some medicinal plants species of traditional Chinese medicine
Dagmar Janovská, Kateřina Kubíková, Ladislav Kokoška (2003) · Czech Journal of Food Sciences
Antimicrobial activity of some plant materials used in Armenian traditional medicine
Mikayel Ginovyan, Margarit Petrosyan, Armen Trchоunian (2017) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
The Role of Natural Products in the Discovery of New Drug Candidates for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disorders II: Alzheimers Disease
Miguel Divino da Rocha, Flávia Pereira Dias Viegas, Helineide Cristina Campos, Patrícia C. Nicastro (2011) · CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets
Seed bank classification and its importance for the restoration of species‐rich flood‐meadows
A.W. McDonald, Jan P. Bakker, K. Vegelin (1996) · Journal of Vegetation Science
Antioxidant Activity of 45 Chinese Herbs and the Relationship with their TCM Characteristics
Hui Liao, Linda K Banbury, David N. Leach (2007) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
POLLEN MORPHOLOGY OF SOME EUROPEAN ROSACEAE
Tj. Reitsma (1966) · Acta Botanica Neerlandica
Anti-Wrinkle Activity of Ziyuglycoside I Isolated from aSanguisorba officinalisRoot Extract and Its Application as a Cosmeceutical Ingredient
Young Heui Kim, Chan Bok Chung, Jin Guk Kim, Kang Il Ko (2008) · Bioscience Biotechnology and Biochemistry
Pomolic acid derivatives from the root of Sanguisorba officinalis
Dong-Liang Cheng, Xiao‐Ping Cao (1992) · Phytochemistry
Anti-tumor and immunomodulating activities of a polysaccharide from the root of Sanguisorba officinalis L.
Zibin Cai, Wei Li, Haotian Wang, Weiqun Yan (2012) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.