Monday, March 12, 2007

Bloodroot



All moaning and complaining makes Rurality a dull blog, so I've tried to avoid a bunch of griping about my back problems.

Instead, here's the first Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) of the season. Only the one green leaf just beneath the rightmost petals actually belongs to the Bloodroot. And that thick dry parchment of a bent stem belongs to something else too -- the tender Bloodroot stalk is slightly visible just below it.

Although it's obviously not much of a diagnostic photo, it's still my favorite of several I took over the weekend.

9 comments:

sugarcreekfarm said...

We have those here, too, and as kids we would pick them and then apply the "blood" from the stem end to our faces for warpaint. It took a lot of picked bloodroots to make much of a paint job.

Ontario Wanderer said...

The temperature is supposed to go up to 10 C today. Soon our bloodroots will be thinking of popping up too, say in a month.

Meanwhile, the Red-winged Blackbirds and Robins are back, and the southern slopes are snowfree so spring is coming.

Anonymous said...

You're back! (or, Your back!)

pablo
www.roundrockjournal.com

Ki said...

I love bloodroots and the way the rolled up leaf/leaves unfurl. I was confused when I first saw your photo, 'that's not what the leaves of bloodroots look like' until I read further. Unfortunately I like you have planted other things right next to the br. Easy to do as they are spring ephemerals and leave no trace of having been there.

Rurality said...

Hmm I'd always read that the juice is somewhat painful on the skin... maybe they just say that so everyone doesn't dig up all the bloodroots. ;)

OW, I haven't seen rw blackbirds here at all lately. Wish they'd nest here like they used to. I love listening to them.

Thanks Pablo, heh.

Ki, well this one's wild so I can't take credit for planting it, but yeah that would probably happen to me too. :)

Cathy said...

Oh! Oh! Oh! Blood Root! We actually had a Spring day today. 72'!! I went out back to look for my wildflowers. Nothing. But your picture gives me hope.

Rurality said...

Cathy I was surprised that so much was up, but we've had a lot of 70 degree days lately. It's supposed to get up to 80 today!

lisa said...

Love that picture! I sure hope my bloodroot comes up this year...my mom gave me some late last season, so it went dormant right away. Got my fingers crossed...

KFarmer said...

I think its a beautiful picture!