BLOODROOT 



Sanguinatia canadensis L. 



Early spring In the. hill woods above the river the oaks and hickories 



Woods look down on the new life which has burst over night 



from the leaf-strewn floor of the forest. 



Here are bloodroot flowers sparkling pure white in the sun, flowers 

 which are brief and bright and beautiful, flowers which come early and 

 quickly go. All Avinter they lay quiescent and frozen beneath the surface 

 of the earth, lay beneath the protecting cover of old oak leaves which 

 year after year soften and crumble and are added to the richness and 

 looseness of the soil. Under this, in tight fat buds, in stout, crisp root- 

 stocks, the bloodroot flowers and leaves in miniature were stored all 

 winter. 



Now a day which brings out a hibernating mourning cloak buttei'fly 

 from behind a shag of hickory bark and wakens the cricket frogs in the 

 marsh se^-s clumps or masses of bloodroot in bloom. 



The plants push up quickly, pale gi'ey-gi'een veiny leaves wrapped 

 around the pale pink stem with the pearly white bud at the top. Quickly, 

 after a spring rain, the stem extends al)ove the curled leaf which unfolds 

 broadly at last. The pearl of a bud, which now is like a white egg on the 

 tip of the juicy stem, opens with eight white petals and a yellow center. 

 A day, and then one by one the white petals droj) to tlie moss and the 

 seed pod begins immediately to form. By summer the bloodroot has com- 

 pletely disappeared, its gi'owth done, food stored in the root, a plant 

 formed in miniature in the bud, ready for winter and next spring. 



The root of bloodroot is thick, dai'k red-ljrown, gnarled, and when 

 it is cut it exudes a ruddy juice which looks much like thin blood. The 

 upper parts of the plant contain a yellowish juice wliich shows the blood- 

 root's kinship with tlic [xippv, to wliicli it is closely related. 



