Bloodroot blooming at Visitor Center and beyond

It’s somehow surprising that one of the first spring ephemerals to plus through the surface has such a startling name.

Bloodroot!

Its name comes from the color of sap stored in its root or rhizome. As time passes, the rhizome grows just under the surface and creates a colony of the remarkable wildflower. Native Americans used this blood red sap as a dye and body paint and called the plant "puccoon."

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is in bloom in front of the Visitor Center, alog Nort Cove Trail and at the Homesite.

- Text and photo by Stephen Lyn Bales