Salad Burnet
Given Name: Sanguisorba minor
Nicknames: small burnet, burnet-bloodwort, garden burnet
Family: Rosaceae
Um... hi?
Oh dear... that caught your attention... I'm not so sure what to say now that you're focusing on me.
Well... the weather's supposed to be sunny for the next few days... so that's good.... yeah... I like sun... I grow best in full sun, what about you? Oh, no, sorry- you're a person. That's not how you work- I knew that. Anyway, did I mention that I'm from Europe, Western Asia and northern Africa... pretty cool... not the weather... I mean my being from those places.
This is so embarrassing... I'm just so nervous. You see, I've always felt awkward when it comes to interacting with people.
Herbs like peppermint, oregano and chives make it look so easy! They boldly change the taste of food and and people love them. Me? I'd rather blend into the background. Luckily my plain cucumber flavoured leaves help with that: I mix well in salads and with other spices but I don't stand out.
Oh! I cringe just thinking about the flavour statements other plants make.
And now I'm supposed to talk about myself... why did I volunteer to do this? Right... because people haven't paid much attention to me for centuries so I need to get myself out there again. Sure every once in a while a scientist does a study on me to test one of my traditional medicinal uses (I was used for my blood clotting, diuretic and digestive properties as well as for fever and diarrhea). And people do still plant me in their gardens- only once I'm planted most people tend to forget about me. And I kind of like it that way.
But now people are looking for a diversity of perennial plants to create healthy garden ecosystems and I want to help.
So, how about this?
If you do like me, just plant me and then let me do my own thing in peace. Sure, harvest my leaves if you like the taste but don't make a big deal about them- don't you dare plan a meal around me. Let my small round clumps of red flowers attract pollinators in your garden but no picking and displaying my blooms (I doubt you'd want to anyway). You can even admire my my fern-like leaves but please plant me as an accent plant, not the main focus!
This deal is great for you because you don't even have to take much care of me in the garden because I'm drought tolerant and rarely invasive. What do you think?
Well... that's about it.... I guess I'll say toodles... no, that just sounds silly... see ya lata skata... oh, now I'm try too hard. Okay I'm just going to go.
Bye,
Bashful Salad Burnet
References:
Cirovic, T. & Radovanovic Barjaktarevic, . & Ninkovic, M. & Bauer, R. & Nikles, S. & Brankovic, S. & Markovic, M. & Jovanovic, V. & Ilic, M. & Milovanovic, O. & Kojicic, K. & Cupara, S. (2020). BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF SANGUISORBA MINOR L. EXTRACTS - IN VITRO AND IN VIVO EVALUATIONS. Acta Poloniae Pharmaceutica - Drug Research. 77. 745-758. 10.32383/appdr/127765.
Crawford, M. (2010). Creating a Forest Garden: Working with nature to grow edible crops. Cambridge: Green Books Ltd., pp 233.
NC State Extension (n.d.). Sanguisorba minor. North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/sanguisorba-minor/
USDA and US Forest Service (n.d.). Sanguisorba minor. Fire Effects Information System: Syntheses about fire ecology and fire regimes in the United States. https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/sanmin/all.html
that was soooooo funny ;)😂