Yesterday Ann and I went on a walk about to see if the ostrich fern fiddle heads were up yet. They are not, probably next weekend. We did find this big patch of bloodroot,
Sanguinaria canadensis L. The flower comes up with the leaf wrapped around it and the leaf unfolds as or after the flower opens. They are named for the bright red sap from the root although the sap in the entire plant is red. The root contains the alkaloid sanguinarine. There are traditional medicinal uses but modern herbalist advice extreme caution as it is toxic.It is also a traditional dye used by many American Indian tribes at one time.
This next pic is of Spring Beauty,
Claytonia caroliniana. This one was a little pinker than they normally are. These have a edible tuber like root. Samuel Thayer, has a chapter in his first book,
The Forager's Harvest, about Spring Beauty. I would highly recommend Sam's books to anyone interested in foraging wild foods. There is also a web sight of the same name.
We spotted a few Marsh Marigolds blooming too but I didn't feel like getting wet feet to get a pic.
the spring beauty by me is the same, much more pink this year than I remember from last year.
ReplyDeleteThere are not too many fiddleheads by me, but the basswood buds have barely broke and are waiting for a reason to open. These close to freezing temps are slowing down spring progress on all but the invasives.