Bloody Crane's-bill

Common Name: Bloody Crane’s-bill

Latin Name: Geranium sanguineum

Family: Geraniaceae

The bloody crane’s-bill is a signature plant of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire limestone. It has bright crimson flowers the size of a fifty pence piece, its leaves are lobed and each lobe is subdivided into three sublobes and it has red stalk joints which are referred to in its name.

In the British Isles this species has a localised distribution on grassland, rocky places, sand-dunes and open woods on calcareous soils in northern and western areas. In the Yorkshire Dales National Park bloody crane’s-bill can be seen in flower between July and August growin in limestone woodland on scar ledges and on limestone pavement. For example in the open rocky parts of Grass Wood near Grassington in Wharfedale and on limestone pavement in the Ingleborough area in Ribblesdale.