Wood avens

Description

Geum urbanum, also known as wood avens, herb Bennet, colewort and St. Benedict's herb (Latin herba benedicta), is a perennial plant in the rose family (Rosaceae), which grows in shady places (such as woodland edges and near hedgerows) in the temperate regions of Eurasia. It has been introduced in North America,where it forms natural hybrids with Geum canadense (= Geum ×catlingii J.-P. Bernard & R. Gauthier). Geum urbanum hybridizes fairly regularly with Geum rivale (water avens), as they are closely related and occur together. In fact, the phenomenon is so conspicuous that hybrids were once treated as a species, named Geum intermedium Ehrh. Usually reaching a height between 20 and 60 cm, wood avens blooms between May and August, and its flowers are 1 – 2 cm in diameter, having five bright yellow petals. The hermaphrodite flowers are scented and pollinated by bees. The fruits have burrs, which are used for dispersal by getting caught in the fur of rabbits and other animals. The roots contain the compound eugenol which is also present in cloves and are used as a spice in soups and also for flavouring ale. Geum urbanum is found throughout Europe (its areas are more scattered in southern Iberia and in Russia, and it is completely absent from northern Scandinavia, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Malta, the Balearic and the Aegean islands). It also occurs in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, in Turkey and the Levant, the Caucasus and the Armenian Highlands, around the Alborz mountains in Iran, and less extensively in western Siberia and in the mountains of Central Asia up to the Western Himalayas.