(Sanguinaria Canadensis) Poppy family

Flowers - Pure white, rarely pinkish, golden centered, 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-centered
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 tomorrow, 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