Astrantia is not native to Britain, and any occurrences are probably garden escapees. The example shown here was a lone patch in the heavily grassed verges alongside the Worcester and Birmingham Canal on Midsummers day, 2006, an exceptionally warm year; indeed, the warmest for 350 years! There are two species, Astrantia minor, largely un-branched up to 70cm tall, and the largely similar but sturdier and branched Astrantia Major, which is up to 1m tall with an umbellifer-type canopy of flowers. The specimen shown is branched therefore Astrantia Major. The conspicuous white 'petals' are bracts, the real flowers are within and much smaller, but still white.

No relation to : Masterwort [a plant with similar name]. ANY TEXT GOES HERE