week of 4/3/02
 
 
 


The Naturalist's Corner
By Don Hendershot
Over night it seems, the bloodroot has thrust itself through the leaf litter of the forested part of my yard; illuminating white teardrop-shaped buds balanced atop naked stalks protectively enveloped by a single leaf, four to six inches above the ground. The leaf slowly unwraps as the bud opens to reveal a brilliant white two to three inch wide bloom composed of eight or more petals. The stark white petals provide the perfect backdrop for the intense yellow stamens and anthers.

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, is a true ephemeral lasting only a few days. To compensate for its short duration and early blooming tendencies, bloodroot has devised several modes of propagation. Though it has no nectar, the large showy petals attract a few early insects that spread the pollen around. It is also self-pollinating. The anthers are positioned in such a way that when pollen is ejected it can easily come into contact with the stigma. The flower closes each evening until pollination has occurred.

Bloodroot is also self-sowing. It is in the poppy family (Papaveraceae) and when the seed pod “pops” seeds are dispersed. The seeds also produce an appendage known as an elaisome that is irresistible to ants. The ants raid the seed pods, carrying the seeds off to their nests. The ants feed on the elaisomes and discard the seeds in tunnels in the underground nest. This process is a form of symbiosis known as myrmecochory, or ant farming.

The plant also spreads by a thick, fleshy underground rhizome. It is this rhizome that gives the plant its common name. Bloodroot has a rich history of practical and medicinal uses. The red juice from the roots was a common dye used by Native Americans for baskets, weapons, clothes and face and body painting. Native Americans also used bloodroot to treat rheumatism, asthma, lung ailments, wounds and coughs.

Early settlers quickly picked up on the coloring properties of bloodroot and used it to dye cloth. It was even imported by France as a dyeing agent.

Colonials also found many medicinal uses for bloodroot. Adhering to the Doctrine of Signatures, a tome of 16th century medical protocol crafted by a Swiss physician and educator Paracelus, which posits that one can learn the medicinal uses of a plant from some aspect of its form, early Europeans used the blood red juice from the plant to treat any variety of illnesses or conditions associated with blood, like hemorrhages, ulcers and wounds.

In the mid 1800s, a concoction of bloodroot, zinc chloride, flour and water was used to treat skin cancers. This treatment was widespread and shipped back across the Atlantic where it was extensively practiced at London’s Middlesex Hospital. Because of the potency and toxicity of the bloodroot, the treatment fell out of favor only to be revived in the early 1960s.

The medical properties of bloodroot come from several toxic alkaloids found in the roots, including sanguinarine, chelerythrine and protopine. The key word here is toxic. While bloodroot does have many medicinal benefits, it’s not for amateur herbalists. An overdose could be fatal.

The primary commercial use of bloodroot has been as a plaque inhibitor in toothpastes and mouth rinses. Colgate-Palmolive Company used to use sanguinarine in its Viadent toothpaste and mouth rinse. However, studies in the 1990s linked sanguinarine to precancerous lesions called leukoplakia. Colgate has replaced sanguinarine in its Viadent formula, but other brands of toothpaste with sanguinarine have come on market.

Sanguinaria canadensis is a widespread wildflower. It ranges from Nova Scotia to Florida and as far west as Nebraska. In North Carolina it is found primarily in the mountains and Piedmont. The gathering of bloodroot for wildcrafting, medicinal purposes and flower gardening, plus habitat loss, have threatened populations in some of its range.

Bloodroot should be left where it is and enjoyed where it is, for what it is — a beautiful, luminescent beacon of spring whose white glow on the brown forest floor attests to the cyclic march of seasons.

(Don Hendershot can be reached at don@smokymountainnews.com)