Walking onto the Hawk Valley Farm property in early spring, you’ll notice a landscape dotted with small, white flowers.
These shy little plants with unique leaves will continue their greeting as you walk down the pathways, looking left and right. The scene is not quite as impactful as the one Dorothy encounters in The Wizard of Oz, but the plants are in the Poppy Family (Papaveraceae). The numerous plants are Sanguinaria canadensis, also known as Bloodroot. Why the name Bloodroot? The roots and stem contain a red juice that was used by Native Americans for dyeing fibers, making paint, insect repellent, and various medicinal treatments. Sanguinarius means “bleeding” in Latin.
Flowers: Each plant contains a single flower and leaf on the stalk. The 2″ wide flowers are white or sometimes pink tinged with yellow stamens in the center and are 6-10″ tall. The short-lived flowers, consisting of 8-10 petals, open in the sun and close at night. The air temperature must be at least 46 degrees F for the flowers to open, as that’s when pollinators are active, according to naturalist Mary Holland. The petals begin to drop after pollination, leaving teardrop-shaped seed pods to develop and ripen over April through June.
Form: The leaf completely encloses the flower bud at first, and unfurls as the flower blooms. The solitary palmate leaf is grayish-green and deeply scalloped. The leaves grow bigger after the flower blooms and can reach 9″ in diameter. They make an attractive ground cover through the spring and summer until the plant goes dormant by late summer and the foliage disappears.
Reproduction: Bloodroot spreads by rhizomes (underground stems) over time to form large colonies. It can also reproduce by seed. As with Yellow Trout Lily, also found in spring at Hawk Valley Farm, “S. canadensis is a myrmecochoric plant meaning its seed dispersal relies primarily on ants carrying away their seed and eating the rich lipid coating (or elaiosome)”. Source
Habitat: Rich woods, thickets, flood plains, and streams are the typical areas where Bloodroot thrives. It prefers moist, but well-draining soils in part shade to shade, although sunlight is needed for bloom. It can also tolerate Black Walnut, also abundant at Hawk Valley Farm.
Wildlife Value: Bloodroot supplies an early season source of pollen for our native solitary bees, such as sweat bees and mining bees, which are the plant’s primary pollinators. It’s also a larval host plant for the southern army worm and the tufted apple bud moth. As previously mentioned, ants also benefit from the lipid rich elaiosome. The aphid species Linosiphon sanguinarium sucks the plants juices from the leaves, however, most herbivores will avoid the unpleasant, bitter foliage. Source
Visit Hawk Valley Farm this spring and catch this unique ephemeral plant before it disappears until next year!
