Do not pick!

By Aaron Horrell

As the weeks of March pass, native wildflowers take their turn blooming in the Southeast Missouri woods.

On St. Patrick's Day, I photographed this cluster of beautiful little flowers. This plant is called bloodroot. Its leaves often have the appearance of fingers encircling a single delicate slender stem that sports a flower. Each flower has eight brilliant white petals and yellow filaments and stamen.

The bloodroot has red sap that is poisonous to humans. If you rub the sap on your skin, you will likely get a bad rash that could leave scars.

Ants play an important role in propagation of bloodroot plants. When the seeds get ripe, ants will carry the seeds to their lair, eat the outer casing off the seeds and then discard the seeds away from their home.