Salad Burnet

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Salad Burnet
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Rosales Family: Rosaceae Genus: Sanguisorba Species: S. minor
Binomial name
Sanguisorba minor Scop.

Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor) is a plant in the family Rosaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. It is a perennial herbaceous plant growing to 40-90 cm tall, typically found in dry grassy meadows, often on limestone soils. It is drought tolerant, and grows all year around.

It is also an ingredient used in both salads and dressings, having a flavor described as "light cucumber". It is considered interchangeable with mint leaves in some recipes, depending on the intended effect. Typically, the youngest leaves are used, as they tend to become bitter as they age.

Salad burnet has the same medicinal qualities as medicinal burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis).

It also has a respectable history, called a favorite herb by Francis Bacon, and being brought to the New World with its first English colonists, even getting special mention by Thomas Jefferson.