perennial

Water avens

Geum rivale

Native

Growing guidance

Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.

Current-climate suitability

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Future-climate resilience

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Sun

Partial shade

Soil moisture

moisture-retentive, waterlogged

Heat tolerance

Up to about 32°C

Cold tolerance

Down to about -30°C

Waterlogging tolerance

5/5

Drought tolerance

1/5

Mature size

0.3–0.5 m tall, 0.4 m spread

Seasonal interest

Late spring · Dusky apricot

Maintenance

low

Wildlife supported

General wildlife value 4/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)

Known risks or warnings

Fails in dry summer soil.

Toxicity: none

Verified botanical record

Accepted scientific name: Geum rivale L.
Family: Rosaceae (Rosales)
Rank and status: species · accepted
GBIF record: Taxon 5369701

Recorded native range: Alberta, Belgium, British Columbia, Flanders, Flemish Region, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Greenland, Labrador, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and 7 further regions

Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.

Geum rivale, the water avens, is a flowering plant in the genus Geum within the family Rosaceae. Other names of the plant are nodding avens, drooping avens, cure-all, water flower and Indian chocolate. It is native to the temperate regions of Europe, Central Asia and parts of North America, where it is known as the purple avens. It grows in bogs and damp meadows, and produces nodding red flowers from May to September.

Description from Wikipedia — Geum rivale (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.

Native status and geographic context

United Kingdom: native
United States: native
Australia: climate-suitable

Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.

Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where to buy

Real retailers serving UK. Garden Forward publishes no prices of its own — each link opens the retailer's own search results, where their current price and stock are shown.

Search Sarah Raven for Geum rivale
Perennials, bulbs and seed, delivered across the UK.
Search Farmer Gracy for Geum rivale
Bulbs and perennials shipped direct from Dutch growers.
Search Ashridge Nurseries for Geum rivale
Bare-root trees, hedging and fruit in the dormant season.
Search Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants for Geum rivale
Specialist hardy perennial nursery.
Search Marshalls Garden for Geum rivale
Fruit, vegetable plants and seed.
Search British Wildflower Meadow Seeds for Geum rivale
Native wildflower and meadow seed.

No affiliate relationship is in place with these retailers, so nothing here earns Garden Forward a commission. Search links checked 2026-09-17. Availability of a species is never a reason it is recommended.

Companion palettes

Not currently in a sample palette.

Climate-resilient alternatives

Data sources

Taxonomy and native range: GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
Species description: Wikipedia — Geum rivale
Photograph: Ivar Leidus · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Growing guidance: Practitioner horticultural estimates pending expert review

Botanical record checked 2026-09-17 · growing guidance last reviewed 2026-06-01 · confidence high

Demonstration data. Climate, plant and retailer records shown here are realistic samples awaiting horticultural validation and live data connections.