ephemeral

•



It's spring. Bloodroot, one of the early woodland ephemerals, is blooming at the nature center. But it won't last long, such is the nature of being ephemeral, evanescent. Your moment in the sun is brief, a mere cat's whisper.

Its name comes from the color of sap stored in its root or rhizome. As time passes, the rhizome grows just under the surface and creates a colony of the early wildflower. Native Americans used this blood red sap as a dye and body paint and called the plant "puccoon."

•