The swamp bloodeye grows in moorland areas. Since many of them have dried out these days, the plant species is considered endangered. Now it has become flower of the year.
The swamp bloodeye is the flower of the year 2025. With this choice, the Loki Schmidt Foundation would like to set an example for the protection and renaturation of moors in which the plant species is native. “The destruction of our moors must end,” said foundation managing director Axel Jahn. Their drainage and agricultural use must be stopped in order to restore the moors to their natural state.
The swamp bloodeye (Comarum palustre) grows primarily in bright, moist and nutrient-poor habitats. Flowers with pointed leaves that are colored purple, brown or blood red grow from the hairy stems. During its flowering period from May to August, it attracts insects such as wild bees and flies and supplies them with nectar and pollen.
However, due to the drainage of many moors, ditches and river banks, the flower has shrunk to a “residual occurrence” in recent decades. It is therefore on the red list of endangered species in twelve federal states. Since a particularly large number of climate-damaging gases are released in dry moors, their rewetting is also particularly important for climate protection.
As a rose plant, the marsh bloodeye belongs to the same family as apples and strawberries. Small nuts grow between the petals, which often get caught in the feathers of water birds and are carried along by them. The nuts can float on the surface of the water for up to a year until they are washed up at a new place of growth.
The biologist Loki Schmidt (1919-2010), wife of former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (1918-2015), launched the campaign in 1980. The carnation was named “Flower of the Year 2024”.
