Native to the mountains of the Balkans and northern Turkey, it is also grown ornamentally for its bright red flowers.

In horticulture, it is also referred to as Geum borisii, but in the botanical literature following J. Kellerer & Sünd.

[6] Within Turkey, the plant is found at elevations of 1200–2400 m in a number of localities in the Pontic Mountains (including Karagöl in the province of Gümüşhane, Zigana in Trabzon, and Cimil in Rize), in the Erzurum area, in the Ilgaz Mountains of Kastamonu Province, Murat Dağ [tr] in Kütahya, and Uludağ (Bithynian Olympus) in the province of Bursa.

[4] Geum coccineum grows in the mountains of Bulgaria (at elevations of 900–2300 m in the western and central Balkan Mountains, on Vitosha, Verila, Sredna Gora, Osogovo, Rila, Pirin, Slavyanka, and the western and central Rhodopes),[7] Serbia (the Balkan Mountains),[8] North Macedonia, and central Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[2] It is grown decoratively (with several cultivars), and as a garden escapee it has become naturalised in isolated areas of Slovenia and Saxony.