Blood Root Flower

by Trey Foerster

Title

Blood Root Flower

Artist

Trey Foerster

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

One of my favorite activities in Spring is to travel rural roads in Central Wisconsin and look for flowering plants, bushes, and trees. The Blood Root was a flower I hadn't seen in this area before and was surprised when I came across it in the roadside ditch. It was only a patch of ground about the size of two car lengths. This bright white little wildflower native to this area is one of the very earliest to bloom in Wisconsin. They emerge in Mid to late April, wrapped in their one leaf, and then the flower blooms out of the wrapped leaf as the plant grows. They grow from rhizomes in the ground, and the rhizomes have poisonous red/orange sap, giving the plant its name. These do not bloom long; this year the petals fell from the flowers after blooming for about 1 week. The red juice from the underground stem was used by Native Americans as a dye for baskets, clothing, and war paint, as well as for insect repellent.

Uploaded

August 31st, 2023

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