bloodroot! finally.

i have been wanting to photograph bloodroot for a coupe of years now. it is one of the first (the first?) spring ephemeral flowers to bloom in our northern woodlands. i found a few bloodroot blossoms in my yard a couple of years ago, but there were too few to sacrifice one on the altar of STILL. but i have been babying them, mostly with water and weed pulling, and now they are a healthy little community–established and spreading. so, today, at long last, i gave myself permission to nip one. alas, i present to you bloodroot. it’s rhizome bleeds when cut. and it’s single leaf clasps the flower stem (as show) until after blooming is completed, when it finally unfurls to it’s full size.

bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)