Reprinted from the Journal of the New YoKK Botanical Garden 17 : 63-64. May, 1916. 



WILD PLANTS NEEDING PROTECTION* 

 II. "Bloodroot" {San guinaria canadensis h.) 



(With Plate CLXXI) 



This is another of the early spring flowers, whose stems are 

 protected by being buried in the earth, forming a subterranean 

 rootstock, abundantly nourished by strong fibrous roots. It is 

 this red, underground, stem, which gives the plant its common 

 name, for like many others of the Poppy family, to which it 

 belongs, it contains a milky orange-colored sap, which flows 

 freely from it when broken. The stems give rise, at intervals, 

 to clusters of pale sheathing bracts, from which the leaves 

 emerge and unroll, showing the white pearly blossoms within. 

 The base and veins of the leaves and the stalks of the flowers are 

 also tinted with the red coloring matter of the stems. When 

 fully expanded, the leaves often measure 6-12 inches across, 

 being wider than they are long, variously lobed or toothed and 

 borne on stalks often 10-14 inches in height. The leaves are 

 fleshy and pale green in color with a waxy bloom when young 

 and disappear soon after the fruit matures. The blossoms open 

 sometimes in March but usually in April and early May and the 

 flowers are generally borne singly on stalks longer than the leaves, 

 though rarely two are found on one stalk; they are large and 

 usually pure white, though sometimes tinged with purple or 

 pale pink, and measure from 1-2 inches across, having 8-12 



* Illustrated by the aid of the Stokes Fund for the Preservation of Native Plants. 



