neverspent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
neverspent) wrote2014-04-01 11:25 pm
neverspent) wrote2014-04-01 11:25 pm
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Bloodroot, March 31
During my hike on the mountain Sunday, the most common non-dormant flora I saw was Bloodroot. I've always wanted to dig up one of the flowers and split open the rhizome to see the red sap, but I keep forgetting when I see them. I'll have to be careful, because the "blood" is toxic (alkaloid) and can burn your skin. The broad spreads of flowers I see on the mountain are probably colonies that grew from one rhizome. They don't grow in broken ground, so I only see them in the really wild woodlands.
Sanguinaria canadensis
The word "sanguine" in English goes back to the Latin for "blood" -- in the ancient theory of the Four Humours, the body fluids influencing health and personality were blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm, and someone with a predominance of blood in the balance was sanguine of temperament. I like that blood was also associated with Spring.
Sanguinaria canadensis
The word "sanguine" in English goes back to the Latin for "blood" -- in the ancient theory of the Four Humours, the body fluids influencing health and personality were blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm, and someone with a predominance of blood in the balance was sanguine of temperament. I like that blood was also associated with Spring.