P/^PAVERACEAE 



POPPY FAMILY 



BLOODROOT 



Sang Ulnar I a canadensis L. 



The Bloodroot gets its name from the orange-red 

 juice that flows out when any part of the stem or petiole 

 is cut or broken. This juice is called latex and in most 

 plants in which it is found 

 is milky white. Latex is 

 different from the sap of 

 the plant and occurs in 

 special receptacles. It 

 usually contains a mixture 

 of nearly everything that 

 is produced in the plant, 

 including foods and waste 

 materials, but no definite 

 function is known for it. 

 Rubber is made from the 

 latex of rubber plants and 

 probably all latex con- 

 tains rubber in small 

 amounts. 



The Bloodroot is a com- 

 mon perennial in rich woods 

 from Nova Scotia, Manitoba 

 and Nebraska to Florida, 

 Alabama and Arkansas. It 

 blooms in April or early May. 

 From the terminal bud of the 

 thickened underground stem 

 arise a leaf and a stem with 

 a single flower. At first the 

 leaf partly envelops the flowering shoot but later it unfolds, 

 enlarges, and, persisting well into the summer, manufactures 

 food to be stored in the underground stem and then to be used 

 the following spring. 



The 2 sepals fall ofi^ as the flower opens but 8 or more con- 

 spicuous white petals remain. Like most members ol the Poppy 

 family, the flowers do not last long and if picked the petals soon 

 drop ofi^. The truit is a many-seeded i -celled pod. 



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