Geum coccineum

For the Chilean plant described as Geum coccineum by John Lindley in 1827, see Geum quellyon.

Geum coccineum is a species of flowering plant in the genus Geum, in the rose family Rosaceae. Native to the mountains of the Balkans and northern Turkey, it is also grown ornamentally for its bright red flowers.

Geum coccineum
Flower of Geum coccineum at the Giardino Botanico Alpino Chanousia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rosaceae
Genus:	Geum
Species:	G. coccineum
Binomial name
Geum coccineum Sibth. & Sm.

Nomenclature

In horticulture, it is also referred to as Geum borisii, but in the botanical literature following J. Kellerer & Sünd. this name is only used for the hybrid Geum bulgaricum × montanum.^[1] The name Geum coccineum is itself used in the gardening literature for another related plant: Geum chiloense Balbis..^[2][3]

Description

Geum coccineum is herbaceous and perennial, growing to a height of 10–45 cm. It blooms, with orange-red flowers,^[4] from May to August.^[5]

The species is hexaploid (with 2n=42), having six sets of chromosomes.^[1]

Distribution and habitat

The plant is found on wet, marshy meadows and along streams.^[6]

Within Turkey, the plant is found at elevations of 1200–2400 m in a number of localities in the Pontic Mountains (including Karagöl in the province of Gümüşhane, Zigana in Trabzon, and Cimil in Rize), in the Erzurum area, in the Ilgaz Mountains of Kastamonu Province, Murat Dağ [tr] in Kütahya, and Uludağ (Bithynian Olympus) in the province of Bursa.^[4]

Geum coccineum grows in the mountains of Bulgaria (at elevations of 900–2300 m in the western and central Balkan Mountains, on Vitosha, Verila, Sredna Gora, Osogovo, Rila, Pirin, Slavyanka, and the western and central Rhodopes),^[7] Serbia (the Balkan Mountains),^[8] North Macedonia, and central Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[1] It is also present in the Accursed Mountains of Albania and Montenegro,^[9] in the mountains of eastern Albania,^[1] and northern Greece (at 1300–2000 m in northern Pindus and mountains of Greek Macedonia: Varnous, Vitsi, Pieria, Vermio, Piperitsa, Kajmakčalan and Tzena).^[2]

It is grown decoratively (with several cultivars), and as a garden escapee it has become naturalised in isolated areas of Slovenia and Saxony.^[1]