Bloodroot and the Hidden Ecology of Maine’s Spring Ephemerals

By Sara Wright

Bloodroot is a member of the poppy family, and mine are normally past full bloom by the end of April with pollinated white stars dropping their petals. This year’s cold and relentless northwest wind may have kept these most beloved wildflowers from even breaking ground until the end of April. 

When clump after clump of gray-green monks appeared with stars still wrapped tightly in leafy mantles, I kept a sharp eye out for their most popular pollinators, ground-loving mining and sweat bees. I lost time watching for just one bee to pollinate the golden-eyed stars. Three days later, still no bees. I also noted how much smaller the plants were than usual; mine are normally about eight inches high. Last year’s severe drought conditions coupled with inadequate snow cover and lack of heavy spring rains appear to be affecting the size of the plants this spring. Normally, the ground around here is full of moisture; this year it is bone dry.

Happily, nature has developed many strategies for bloodroot survival.  After a few days without a bee visit, the stamens bend to touch the stigma of each flower and self-pollination occurs.

“Even without a single bee, bloodroot finds a way—turning inward to pollinate itself and outward to enlist ants in its survival.”

Bloodroot also has a symbiotic relationship with ants to help disperse seeds (a process called myrmecochory). The seeds inside the long, slender capsules that appear after the flowers are gone contain a substance called elaiosome that attracts ants. Ants carry the seeds to their nests to consume the elaiosomes. (An elaiosome is defined as a lipid-rich seed appendage that serves to attract ants). After finishing the treat, the ants discard the seeds in their compost piles where the seed has a chance to germinate.

As soon as the short-lived flower fades, an elongated capsule appears on the stalk. The single leaf continues to expand and grow, photosynthesizing as much as it can before summer’s lush deciduous canopy is fully leafed out. Around here the leaves begin to fade and disappear by the end of June or early July. 

Sanguinaria canadensis is native, a perennial wildflower that is found

from Nova Scotia and Manitoba south to Florida and Oklahoma. This plant thrives in rich, moist, well-drained soils, in hardwood or mixed forests (I have bloodroot by my brook in a mixed forest), near streams, shaded slopes or floodplains. Like most ephemerals, it is extremely sensitive to habitat disturbance.

Bloodroot can grow from 8 to 12 inches tall. Both leaf and flower sprout from a sunset orange or reddish rhizome that elongates every year. Bloodroot thrives in community. These rhizomes branch to form the bouquets I love. 

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