A clump-forming perennial herb to 50 cm tall with a strong tap root. Leaves mostly of 7-13 roundish serrated leaflets, more on lower leaves, smelling of cucumber when crushed. Flowers reddish green, thimble-shaped, the female flowers towards the tip of the oblong to spherical flower cluster; summer. Carpels 2, with projecting styles. Syn. Poterium sanguisorba L.
S. obtusa Maxim., a large herb to 2 m or more tall from Japan and Russia, is also occasionally listed; the leaves have about 13 leaflets.
W and C Asia, N Africa, Europe. About 10 northern temperate species. Will self-sow readily.
Source: (2002). Rosaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.