On the Upper midwest thread a pic of Bloodroot was posted, looks like someting I must have in my Iowa garden (see how much money this site always ends up costing me?LOL!)
Anyway .... here are some interesting facts on Bloodroot:
An early spring ephemeral. The flower bud, on a seperate stalk but completely enclosed by the developing leaf, pushes upward through the leaves as one of the first plants of spring.
The root contains several alkaloids, most notably sanguinarine, which has shown antiseptic, anesthetic and anticancer activity. American Indians used the root for rhuematism, asthma, bronchitis, lung ailments, laryngyitis and fevers. The red-orange juice from the root was applied to warts, used as a dye and a decorative skin stain. Bachelors of the Ponca tribe used it as a love charm, by applying it to their palms and shaking hands with the woman they wanted to marry. Within 5 or 6 days, the girl would be willing.
Bloodroot works great for the shade or woodland gardener. The early white flowers are a welcome sign that spring is on the way and the bold, green leaves will persist through the growing season.
Bloodroot
Great lore on Bloodroot!
I know a 'root-worker' who uses it for lung ailments. I hope she is careful because it is not to be tinkered with and you should really know what you're doing as it can have toxic side effects.
Robert.
we had this growing in the woods by our house in Ohio growing up. My dad got great glee from putting the reddish liquid on himself and pretending he'd been cut and scaring Mom to death.
It's definitely something I want to plant in the line of trees (fence row) at the back of our yard -- once we win the war against the $*%&#&# poison ivy, LOL.
In case anyone's curious, here's the PF page on bloodroot:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/376/index.html
That's my largest problem ~ PI. My fiend has blood root growing wild all over her 10 acres. It's a beautiful plant. Delicate looking.
