For me, this plant represents the Burren at its best. With its most attractive foliage and its bright red-purple flowers it carpets rocky places, banks and even grows in the little hollows in the limestone pavements. From June to August, these 2-3cm five-petalled flowers appear, each on its own hairy stem. The leaves are round but deeply divided, almost to the base, into between five and seven lobes. The fruits, as is common to all cranesbills, end in long pointed beaks or bills which split into five seeds. This outstanding native plant of the Burren belongs to the family Geraniaceae.
I first identified this flower in 1979 in the Burren, Co Clare where I photographed it in 2004.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
