Flora of Israel | Sanguisorba minor

Sanguisorba minor, Poterium sanguisorba, Small burnet, Salad burnet, Garden burnet,

Hebrew: בן-סירה מיובל, Arabic: مرقئة صغيرة

Scientific name:   Sanguisorba minor Scop.
Synonym name:   Poterium sanguisorba L.
Common name:   Small burnet, Salad burnet, Garden burnet, Lesser burnet
Hebrew name:   בן-סירה מיובל
Arabic name:   مرقئة صغيرة
Nederlandse naam:   Kleine pimpernel
Family:   Rosaceae, Rose Family, ורדיים


Life form:   Perennial herbs
Stems:   Up to 20–70 cm, glabrous or hairy, basal leaf rosette; flowering stems erect
Leaves:   Alternate pinnately compound leaves; leaflets oval to oblong, coarsely toothed
Inflorescence:   Headlike to elongate spikes
Flowers:   Capitula 1-3cm, globose to ovoid; hypanthium (floral cup) 3-8mm, usually angled, ridged or winged and with faces reticulate, sculptured or irregularly ridged, flowers white to red in colour
Fruits / pods:   Achene, oblong
Flowering Period:   April, May, June
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Semi-steppe shrublands, Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Sanguisorba, Latin, sanguis, blood; sorbeo, to soak up.

minor, smaller, inferior, lesser.
Poterium, Latin “cup,” Greek poterion goblet, beaker or drinking cup.

  • The standard author abbreviation Scop. is used to indicate Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (1723 – 1788), an Italian physician and naturalist.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

See the list of Medicinal herbs in Israel, the parts used and their medical uses to treat various diseases.