Distinguishing Feature : The flowers are all clustered together in a hard deep-red or nearly brown prolate spherical head. The leaves are typical rose-type, but but much narrower and slightly longer than typical members of the rose family. Like the rose family, the leaves are conspicuously coarsely toothed.

Unlike most members of the rose family, Great Burnet has only four petals, not five. The flowers are all clustered together in a hard deep-red or nearly brown prolate spherical head.

An asymmetrical dimeric Ellagitannin called Sanguiin H-6 which is an isomer of Agrimoniin which is found in Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria). Sanguiin H-6 is a dimer of Casuarctiin, another ellagitannin containing units of Sanguisorbic Acic.

ELLAGITANNINS Sanguisorbic Acid is a constituent of some of the many hundreds of ellagitannins, which assemble themselves almost at will from Gallic Acid moieties or Galloyl (aka GlucoGallin) units, which are the Glucosides of Gallic Acid. Your Author assumes it is not called Sanguisorbic Acid for nothing, and that it is also found in both Great Burnet and White Burnet. Casuarictin is another ellagitannin which is formed from four Gallic Acid units (red - the bottom pair and left-hand side pair) which together make two HexaHydroxyDiphenic Acid moiety linked by a Glucose unit (red, centre with a oxygen unit in the ring). The glucose unit is directly joined to a fifth Gallic Acid unit (black, top). It is produced in some plants (Casuarina and Stachyurus species, which are not native to the UK, and probably within Great Burnet) from its precursor Tellimagrandin II. Note that these two Gallic Acid units, in joining with Glucose make two large rings, one 10 membered ring (on the left) and the other an 11-membered ring (just below centre). Sanguiniin H-6 below is the dimer of Casuarictin, and is also found in Great Burnet, Garden Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) and in other Rosaceae family plants. It is isomeric with agrimoniin which is found in Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) which also belongs to the Rosaceae family.