One of the earliest wildflowers blooming in spring is the
bloodroot, (Sanguinaria Canadensis).
Other common names include redroot and puccoon.
The dainty white flower is an Eastern North American native that blooms
from March through April, depending on weather and location. Bloodroot is also cultivated in gardens,
especially those that feature native plants.
In the wild bloodroot occurs in moist areas at the edges of
woodlands. Bloodroot is sometimes seen on roadside ditch banks and marshy
meadows. It’s an ephemeral, meaning that the plant grows and flowers quickly in
the spring, and then goes dormant when the heat of summer arrives. It usually
is in sun or partial shade when it blooms, but as the trees leaf out the
foliage survives in shady locations.
A single white flower appears first in the spring with a
leaf folded up along the flower stem. The stems rise 6-10 inches from the
ground. The 2 inch wide flowers have
8-10 white petals which may have a pink or lavender tinge. There is a group of yellow stamens in the
center. Flowers open in sunlight and
close at dark or before rain. Each
flower only lasts a day or so. There are
cultivated bloodroot varieties that have double flowers. The double flowers
last a few days longer than single flowers.
After the flower opens the leaf unfurls, it’s a lobed
palmate leaf with the margins scalloped and appears to rise right out of the
ground. It has a downy appearance when new. The deep green leaf will grow to 7
inches or more across in good moist soil and will survive until the heat of
summer. In the garden the foliage is
attractive until it begins to die back.
Bloodroot is pollinated by tiny flies and native bees and is
an early source of nectar and pollen.
The flowers produce 1 inch pods filled with reddish brown to black round
seeds. These are normally hidden by the
leaves and the pods burst and spill the seeds before the leaves are gone. Each seed is covered by a white waxy coating
called an elaiosome, which is a favored food of ants. Ants carry the seeds to their burrows where
they eat off the coating, leaving the seed behind and effectively planting it.
Bloodroot spreads by seed but also by its rhizomatous
root. Left alone a few plants will soon
spread to a large colony. If you
purchase bloodroot you will be sent pieces of the rhizomatous root to plant.
Garden culture of
bloodroot
If you wish to grow bloodroot in the garden please purchase
it instead of digging wild plants. Many
places carry the plants. In the garden
bloodroot prefers the shade of deciduous trees and a slightly acidic, light,
humus rich soil. It needs to be moist
but well drained. It does not require fertilization. Bloodroot is perennial and
will persist and spread if conditions are right.
Make sure to mark the spot where you plant bloodroot as it
will disappear in mid-summer and gardeners often forget and plant over it or
destroy the rhizomes. Be aware that deer will readily eat the plants. Since bloodroot is poisonous (except to deer
obviously) keep it away from children and pets.
Herbal use of
bloodroot
The name bloodroot arrives because if you break any part of
the plant a red sap will ooze out. The
sap contains an alkaloid called sanguinarine, which is toxic to animal
cells. This alkaloid is concentrated in
the root. Handling the plant or roots
can cause skin irritation and concentrated sap left on skin can cause chemical
burns. The roots of the plant can be
used to produce a red dye.
Indigenous people used bloodroot for many herbal
preparations, as a body paint and red dye. They had many medicinal uses of the
plant but modern medicine cautions against internal use of the plant or its sap
as deaths have occurred from its use. Only very experienced herbalists should
use bloodroot preparations and then with great caution.
Bloodroot’s taste will quickly cause vomiting, if that is
desired and a diluted form was used as an expectorant. It was often used to burn off skin tumors or
dead flesh from wounds and to cure ringworm.
An herbal remedy for skin cancer is still suggested sometimes but
application of bloodroot products to the skin is painful and can cause extreme
scarring. In several trials of its
effectiveness against skin cancer it was found that the product often failed to
kill enough cancer cells and cancer usually re-occurred.
The antibiotic properties of bloodroot did find some use in
toothpaste and mouthwash in the last few decades and helped prevent tarter
build up. Other uses of the
antibacterial properties of bloodroot are being studied.
Bloodroot makes an interesting addition to the deciduous
shade garden or a wildflower garden. Why
not add some your garden?
No comments:
Post a Comment