Geranium pratense - Meadow cranesbill - (Geraniaceae)

One of the loveliest of the wild flowers of the UK and Europe, Meadow Cranesbill is found in greatest abundance in the east of and south of England, although it can also be found right in the north of Scotland. In Scandinavia, where this flower is widespread and common, it is called the Mid-summer Flower (Midsommar Blomster) because it can always be relied upon to be flowering in time for the Mid-summer celebrations - a far more important festival in those cold countries than Christmas!

Meadow Cranesbill flowers on a roadside

Meadow Crane's-bill flowering on the side of a road in West Wales.

The flowers are usually blue, and often a very deep blue on chalky soil, but pink and even white specimens are sometimes to be seen. Meadow cranesbill flowers from June until September, it  grows to a height of half a metre and occasionally more, and the flowers are typically 30 to 40 mm in diameter.

A closeup picture of the flowers and seed heads of Meadow Cranesbill

The flowers and the seed head which gives the crane's-bills their names

The pictures on this page were taken in West Wales in July.