Burnet Saxifrage

Foodplant / gall
larva of Diodaulus traili causes gall of inflorescence of Pimpinella saxifraga

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
cleistothecium of Erysiphe heraclei parasitises live Pimpinella saxifraga

Foodplant / miner
larva of Euleia heraclei mines live leaf of Pimpinella saxifraga

Foodplant / miner
larva of Phytomyza adjuncta mines leaf of Pimpinella saxifraga

Foodplant / miner
larva of Phytomyza melana mines leaf of Pimpinella saxifraga
Other: sole host/prey

Foodplant / parasite
hypophyllous colony of sporangium of Plasmopara crustosa parasitises live leaf of Pimpinella saxifraga

Foodplant / parasite
telium of Puccinia pimpinellae parasitises live Pimpinella saxifraga

Foodplant / spot causer
immersed, pale brown pycnidium of Septoria coelomycetous anamorph of Septoria aegopodina var. trailii causes spots on leaf of Pimpinella saxifraga

Pimpinella saxifraga L. Sp. PI. 263. 1753
Tragoselinum Saxifragum Moench. Meth. 99. 1794.
Selinum Pimpinella E. H. L. Krause in Sturm, Fl. Deuts. ed. 2. 12: 53. 1904.
Apium Saxifragum Calest. Webbia 1: 178. 1905.
Perennial, glabrous to puberulent or subvillous, 1.5-6 dm. high; basal leaves oblong in general outline, excluding the petioles 3.5-12 cm. long, 2-7 cm. broad, pinnate, the leaflets 6-20, ovate to orbicular, 1-3 cm. long, sharply serrate, incised, or pinnately decompound; petioles 1.5-4 cm. long; cauline leaves reduced with smaller, linear-lanceolate divisions, the uppermost leaves reduced to narrow sheaths; peduncles 2-8 cm. long; involucre wanting, or of a few bracts; involucel wanting, or of a few bractlets; rays 7-20, 2-4 cm. long; pedicels 3-8 mm. long; calyxteeth obsolete; marginal petals often radiant; carpophore 2-cleft to the base; fruit oval to orbicular, 2-2.5 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. broad, glabrous, compressed laterally, the ribs filiform and somewhat obscure; oil-tubes usually 3 in the intervals, 2-4 on the commissure; seed-face slightly concave.
Type locality: "In Europae pascuis siccis," collector unknown. Distribution: Eurasia; adventive from New Brunswick to Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Pimpinella saxifraga, known as burnet-saxifrage, solidstem burnet saxifrage, lesser burnet is a plant species in the family Apiaceae, a native of the British Isles and temperate Europe and Western Asia. It is neither a burnet, which its leaves resemble, nor a saxifrage although it has a similar herbal effect as a diuretic.

The plant makes up a large part of the turf in some of southern England's chalk downs. It is highly nutritious for sheep and cattle, and in the past was cultivated on calcareous soils for fodder.

John Gerard's Herball (1597) commends the plant's properties, and states that it is: "A speciall helpe to defend the heart from noysome vapours and from the infection of the Plague or Pestilence, and all other contagious diseases for which purpose it is of great effect, the juice thereof being taken in some drink...it is a capital wound herb for all sorts of wounds, both of the head and body, either inward or outward, used either in juice or decoction of the herb, or by the powder of the herb or root..."