A bloodier than usual bloody cranesbill

I've often wondered why bloody cranesbill Geranium sangineum is so-called, because the flower is magenta, not the colour of blood at all. According to Richard Mabey, in his Flora Britannica, the name originally referred to the redness of the stalks, but it seems odd that they should take prerefence over the flowers in the naming of the plant. Anyway, this one is fairly typical ......

....... but this one is much bloodier. Still not the colour of real blood, but closer to it.

This single red-hued plant grows amongst the typical ones on the cliffs at Seaham on the Durham coast.

A couple of years ago I collected seed from it and some of the plants are flowering in the garden this year, but so far they are all magenta blooms.

So now I'm going to try rooting a side shoot from a small cutting. 

Interesting varieties of wild flowers were the mainstay of gardens in these islands long before exotic species were introduced from overseas, and often appear on the decorative borders of medieval manuscripts, so bringing this variety into cultivation will be a continuation of a long-established horticultural tradition.

Botanical artillery...

Cranesbills are wild flowers with a particularly violent method of dispersing their seeds, that involves a catapult mechanism and is particularly well developed in bloody cranesbill Geranium sanguineum.

Cranesbills belong to the genus Geranium, a name that's derived from the Greek word geranos, meaning 'crane' (the bird, not the mechanical device) and nicely describes the central axis of the fruit, which resembles a crane's beak.

There are five egg shaped seed containers at the base of that long beak, which is formed from five long strips of plant tissue that are firmly attached to the tip of the beak and develop tremendous internal tensions as they dry out. They are botanical springs and when their inner tensions reach a critical point they break free at the base and curl away from it with enormous force......

.... so that they curl upwards with the egg-shaped containers attached, hurling out the seed which lies in each container, in much the same way as those dog ball throwers that dog walkers use. After the seeds have been dispersed this elegant candelabra-like structure is left behind.

Bloody cranesbill is the official county wild flower of Northumberland.