Blood Root is good for a spring woodland garden. In early spring, solitary flower stems emerge through tightly folded, clasping leaves nestled among the previous year's litter. Flowers are snow white or rarely tinged with pink, 1 to 2 inches wide, and resemble fragile daisies with soft petals and bright yellow tufts of stamens in their centers. They stand a few inches or so, tall, erect, and quiver in the spring breezes. But in a day's time, the petals drop, and the large, rounded, deeply lobed, blue-green leaves start to unfurl and expand. Leaves may enlarge to a foot around until they disappear in the summer. Blood Root has a thick, brittle root or rhizome that exudes a red-orange juice when broken. It is because of the root that Blood Root can tolerate dry conditions in summer, but otherwise it likes even moisture and shade. (Sunlight Gardens)

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This plant can be found in forested areas, usually slopes, sometimes by streams or creeks. Its roots "bleed" red-orange-brown when cut or damaged.
When initially emerging, flower bud(s) emerge wrapped in 1 or 2 leaves, like a taco!

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Honey bees get pollen from this plant.

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Unlike most spring ephemerals, bloodroot doesn't necessarily lose its leaves right after the seed ripens. It can keep its leaves pretty far into summer if the roots don't dry out. The longer the leaves collect sun and create food, the more flowers and offsets the roots will produce the next year. So I found out last year when I carefully watered my bloodroot whenever it started to wilt, though I don't remember exactly how long the leaves lasted. At least into July. My clump really needs to be divided now, since the leaves are overlapping.

There's a fair amount of variability in the shape of the petals. Mine are long and thin, but others are wider. This can be seen in the photos here. Strangely, the flowers with long thin petals are reminiscent of Mentzelia decapetala, an entirely unrelated biennial flower that grows in very dry soil in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains regions.

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Taken from wikipedia's page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

"Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot, is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America.

The flowers are produced from March to May, with 8-12 delicate white petals and yellow reproductive parts. The flowers appear over clasping leaves while blooming. The flowers are pollinated by small bees and flies, seeds develop in elongated green pods 40 to 60 mm in length and ripen before the foliage goes dormant. The seeds are round in shape and when ripe are black to orange-red in color.

Sanguinaria canadensis plants are found growing in moist to dry woods and thickets, often on flood plains and near shores or streams on slopes, they grow less frequently in clearings and meadows or on dunes, and are rarely found in disturbed sites. Deer will feed on the plants in early spring.

Bloodroot is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants, a process called myrmecochory. The seeds have a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants. The ants take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their nest debris, where they are protected until they germinate. They also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant nest debris.

Sanguinaria canadensis is cultivated as an ornamental plant. The double flowering forms are prized by gardeners for their large showy white flowers, which are produced very early in the gardening season. Bloodroot flower petals are shed within a day or two of pollination so the flower display is short lived. The double forms bloom much longer than the normal forms, the double flowers are made up of stamens that have been changed into petal looking like parts, making pollination more difficult."

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