Native Flowers Blooming At The Backdoor

March 18, 2025

I was surprised as I stepped out the back door this afternoon, as I looked around and saw my Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) blooming. I had been wanting to see some native plants blooming but it hadn’t occurred to me to think about what those blooms might be. Yay spring!

Bloodroot is a plant that fascinates me because of its relationship with ants and myrmecochory. Myrmecochory involves an ant-plant interaction. The plant, Bloodroot in this case, has a seed with an attachment called an elaiosome that is attractive to ants because of its lipids, amino acids, or other nutrients. Ants gather these seeds and take them to their nest where they are consumed by ant larvae. The seeds are then discarded. Makes me think of the ants as farmers.

_______________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

 

Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.