_Sanguinaria canadensis_
_Flowers_--Pure white, rarely pinkish, golden centred, 1 to 1-1/2 in.
across, solitary, at end of a smooth, naked scape 6 to 14 in. tall.
Calyx of 2 short-lived sepals; corolla of 8 to 12 oblong petals, early
falling; stamens numerous; 1 short pistil composed of 2 carpels.
_Leaves:_ Rounded, deeply and palmately lobed, the 5 to 9 lobes often
cleft. _Rootstock:_ Thick, several inches long, with fibrous roots, and
filled with orange-red juice.
_Preferred Habitat_--Rich woods and borders; low hillsides.
_Flowering Season_--April-May.
_Distribution_--Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to Nebraska.
Snugly protected in a papery sheath enfolding a silvery-green
leaf-cloak, the solitary erect bud slowly rises from its embrace, sheds
its sepals, expands into an immaculate golden-centred blossom that,
poppy-like, offers but a glimpse of its fleeting loveliness ere it drops
its snow-white petals and is gone. But were the flowers less ephemeral,
were we always certain of hitting upon the very time its colonies are
starring the woodland, would it have so great a charm? Here to-day, if
there comes a sudden burst of warm sunshine; gone to-morrow, if the
spring winds, rushing through the nearly leafless woods, are too rude to
the fragile petals--no blossom has a more evanescent beauty, none is
more lovely. After its charms have been displayed, up rises the circular
leaf-cloak on its smooth reddish petiole, unrolls, and at length
overtops the narrow, oblong seed-vessel. Wound the plant in any part,
and there flows an orange-red juice, which old-fashioned mothers used to
drop on lumps of sugar and administer when their children had coughs and
colds. As this fluid stains whatever it touches--hence its value to the
Indians as a war-paint--one should be careful in picking the flower. It
has no value for cutting, of course; but in some rich, shady corner of
the garden, a clump of the plants will thrive and bring a suggestive
picture of the spring woods to our very doors. It will be noticed that
plants having thick rootstock, corms, and bulbs, which store up food
during the winter, like the irises, Solomon’s seals, bloodroot, adder’s
tongue, and crocuses, are prepared to rush into blossom far earlier in
spring than fibrous-rooted species that must accumulate nourishment
after the season has opened.