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.

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