Herb Robert

Geranium robertianum

Family · Geraniaceae · Harmless

Traditional use

The shade geranium that turns entirely red at the end of the season and smells bad when touched. It is among the commonest plants in a damp wood and one that more people have crushed without knowing its name.

Where it grows

Oak woods · Walls and rocks · Streams and ditches · Uplands

Also known as

red robin, death come quickly

In flower

How to tell it

Red, brittle, hairy stems that break at the slightest touch. Leaves divided into five segments, each cut again, on a long stalk. Bright pink five-petalled flowers with paler stripes. A strong unpleasant smell when rubbed, which many people recognise without knowing from where.

What it is confused with

Little Robin

Geranium purpureum

Harmless confusion

They are nearly identical and share the name. The difference is in the anthers: yellow on the lesser one, orange or reddish here. The lesser prefers drier southern places, this damp woodland. Both harmless.

Open sheet →

What it is for

Traditional external use on wounds and inflammations across Europe, and one of the most cited medicinal plants in European ethnobotany. No food use.

With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.

Sources

Flora-On