Wood Avens - Geum urbanum
To 70cm. Also known as Herb Bennet, this is a straggly, hairy plant that has downy, three-lobed leaves with toothed edges. The yellow flowers have five petals. The flowers appear in loose clusters and are replaced by spiky, red coloured seed heads designed to snag passing animals.
- A hairy, quite erect plant to 70 cm.
- Flowers yellow 8 to 15 mm in branched clusters.
- Achenes hairy with feathery hooked styles.
Shaded habitats, woods, hedgerows, etc.
May to September.
Perennial.
Very common throughout Britain.
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 561 of the 617 tetrads.
 (Geum urbanum) Harecroft Crescent Sapcote SP 4901 9373 (taken 31.5.2008).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote garden1
31 May 2008
David Nicholls
Groby Pool
10 May 2008
David Nicholls
Leicester, Westfields Tennis Club
20 February 2022 Footpath to Calver Quarry Sapcote SP 4955 9306 (taken 16.9.2007).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
16 September 2007
David Nicholls
New Lount
09 June 2011
 (Geum urbanum) Harecroft Crescent Sapcote SP 4901 9373 (taken 31.5.2008).JPG)
 Footpath to Calver Quarry Sapcote SP 4955 9306 (taken 16.9.2007).JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- Wood Avens, Herb Bennet
- Species group:
- flowering plant
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Rosales
- Family:
- Rosaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 804
- First record:
- 11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
- Last record:
- 28/03/2026 (Cunningham, Sally)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
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Latest images
Latest records
Jonesboy1
Croft
28 May 2021
egaten
Bagworth Wood
30 August 2021
egaten
Burroughs Wood
25 May 2021
HAPeacock
Leicester Garden
04 June 2012
Lostash
Whetstone Fields
21 April 2014
Melinda Bell
Hinckley,Ashby Canal
27 August 2020
Metallus lanceolatus
The larvae of the sawfly Metallus lanceolatus mine the leaves of various Geum species. The mine begins with short, rather broad corridor that often is overrun by the later, large, very transparent full depth blotch. The mine begins somewhere in the centre of the leaf. Frass in many loose grains.
Herb Bennet Aphid
Macrosiphum gei is found in dense colonies on the upper parts of the flower stem of Wood Avens (Geum urbanum) which is also known as Herb-Bennet and on Hybrid Avens. It can also occur on the undersides of the leaves of some Apiaceae, especially Anthriscus. Macrosiphum gei apterae are spindle-shaped, usually mid-green to bluish green or wine red.
Stigmella splendidissimella
The larva of the moth Stigmella splendidissimella mines the leaves of Geum species, Bramble, Agrimony and Wild Strawberry. The mine is a long meandering gallery with a neat central frass line. S. aurella produces similar mines usually with dispersed frass, but can produce mines that are very similar to S. splendidissimella. Therefore all leaf mine records of either species where the frass line is central and not dispersed should be tenanted and reared through to adult.
Cecidophyes nudus
The mite Cecidophyes nudus causes galls to form on the leaves of Geum species (usually Geum urbanum). The mites live between hairs usually on the underside of the leaf, whilst the other surface shows bulges which vary from light green or yellowish to red.