Sanguisorba officinalis L.
great burnet (official burnet)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
great burnet (official burnet)
Rosaceae (Rose family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a thick short rhizome, smooth, usually glaucous; stems erect, 20 to 150 cm tall, often branched above.
Leaves:
Basal leaves several, 10-40 cm long, pinnately compound, with stipules fused to base of long leaf-stalks and forming membranous margins; leaflets 7 to 15, egg-shaped to lance-oblong, 1.5-4 cm long, coarsely saw-toothed, green above, paler beneath; stem leaves 1 or 2, similar but smaller and with fewer leaflets, with free leaflet-like stipules.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, cylindric to egg-shaped, long-stalked spike, 1-3 cm long, of numerous small flowers; corollas absent; calyces reddish-purple to maroon, 4-lobed, the lobes egg-shaped, 2-3 mm long; ovaries superior; stamens 4, the filaments linear, not flattened, about the same length as the calyx-lobes.
Fruits:
Achenes, enclosed in the 4-angled, narrowly winged, hairy hypanthium.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Sanguisorba officinalis
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
279 | 5 | 1790 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
7 | 0 | 50 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
8 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
6 | 1 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
A | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
209 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
CWH | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BWBS(1), CWH(177), ESSF(2), MH(15), SWB(1) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Bogs and fens in the lowland and montane zones; frequent along the coast; N to AK and YT and S to S CA.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Poterium officinale (L.) A. Gray
Sanguisorba microcephala C. Presl
Sanguisorba officinalis subsp. microcephala (C. Presl) Calder & Roy L. Taylor
Sanguisorba officinalis var. polygama (W. Nyl.) Mela & A. Caj.