Does anyone recognise this plant?

[LadyGascoyne]

One app said Crane’s Bill but it doesn’t look like it when you compare photos, and someone else suggested it is Ragged Robin but I don’t think it looks the same either.

It is small, grows low, has black and red colours through it and looks like the flowers are more leaf than flower, and seems to have little seed poddy things on it.

It has popped up all over the field so I just want to be sure no one is going to die eating it.

 

[Landcruiser]

It looks like some sort of geranium, I thought ragged robin but not sure. Gut feeling is nobody will die.

 

[teacups]

Looks as though it could be Herb Robert - the flowers are unclear - but the leaves on herb robert go from green to reds etc. Herb robert is a crane’s bill/geranium type though, so if you think the flowers don’t fit…

ETA am pretty sure it is not poisonous, to humans anyway - seem to remember it might even be medicinal

 

[Errin Paddywack]

It isn't Herb Robert or Ragged Robin. I have Herb Robert in my garden and know it only too well. It stinks if you handle it.

 

[Keith_Beef]

My guess is Cut-leaved Crane's-bill (Geranium dissectum L.).

 

[AmyMay]

A type of geranium.

 

[COldNag]

I have loads of herb Robert but the flowers are pinker.

Does look geranium-ish

 

[Laafet]

Could be Red Barstia - or Red B*stard as we call it - a parasitic weed that takes over the grass and is nearly impossible to kill.

 

[holeymoley]

According to the plant app it's from the Geranium family. It's called Geranium Dissectum and is basically a weed.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Don’t think it’s Geranium Disectum/ Cranes Bill?

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Doesn’t look like this is it either…

 

[holeymoley]

View attachment 95135

Don’t think it’s Geranium Disectum/ Cranes Bill?

That's the flower, I think the leaves can be red

 

[PurBee]

It doesnt look like ragged robin to me either - i have that in abundance in one patch of field, but I can see why you thought that.
It reminds me of a weed i sometimes get here, called Herb Robert - the pods are very similar to your pics - the flowers are pink - the stems are red and hairy - the geranium leaves are lobed. But your leaf is red, and looks young - and that could develop larger and turn green when the plant is developed. Have a hunt for more examples with more leaf development.

It’s worth remembering that soil mineral differences can alter a plants colour and size - so they can appear very different sometimes to the standard plant guides. This goes for mushrooms too. The growing substrate impacts colour/size/development of plants wildly.
So for i.d purposes try to focus on the leaf shape, stem shape, is stem hollow, flower bud shape etc - rather than size and colour, as size and colour are the 2 main aspects affected by different soils.

For instance, I planted german chamomile to harvest flowers in good nutritious soil - the plant developed as expected and produced massive flowers. Seed drift caused chamomile to germinate in my shale paths - it looked like chamomile but the flower heads never developed white petals and the plants remained stunted. Online guides called this ‘pineapple plant’ - describing it as similar to chamomile with flowers scenting of pineapple. It has its own i.d completely separate to german chamomile, yet i knew only G. Chamomile has only ever been grown here by me. Im on an old farm not farmed for 70yrs before me.
I dug up this so-called pineapple plant and planted it in good soil - it grew properly as the german chamomile and developed real flowers and long stems. It was G.chamomile all along - just growing oddly due to soil/substrate mineral differences.
Mushroom i.d guides know this soil difference phenomenon too well and warn about it when looking to identify wild mushrooms. The well-known alice in wonderland fly agaric mushroom with bright red cap and white spots is yellow capped with white spots in many soils of the USA!

 

[holeymoley]

Although I don't know anymore... maybe not? Leaves look similar to your middle photo.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

That end one looked very similar so I went around the other fields and…

Horse field one:


Other field:


Side by side:


It’s the same! It is Crane’s Bill, thank you everyone.

It just appears that the one in the horse’s field is very, very miserable and pathetic.

So mystery solved, we have a very sad little geranium.

 

[milliepops]

I think it just goes red as its dying back. I have some in varying shades from green where its still flowering, to red where its long gone to seed.

 

[AmyMay]

I think it just goes red as its dying back. I have some in varying shades from green where its still flowering, to red where its long gone to seed.

Yes, geranium leaves do go red when it’s starting to go to seed.