Kentucky Wild Weeds-Bloodroot

My flower feel apart from the cold weather so I borrowed a picture from the internet.  I wanted to talk about bloodroot because it's one of the earliest blooming plants and much of the supply of this herb comes from eastern Kentucky.  It's unusual because the flower appears before the leaf.  It likes moist rich soil and grows easily in areas like the Daniel Boone National Forest where there is rich leaf litter to nourish it.

Bloodroot is a low dose medicinal and is used as an expectorant in cold formulas.  It's caustic to the skin and can actually kill skin cells.  This makes it useful in treating skin cancer and is a common ingredient in black salves.  Fresh root juice, which is blood red, can be applied directly to skin tags and warts.  I have even had luck applying the extract to a freshly forming skin tag. The skin tag dried up and fell off in a few hours.  Bloodroot extract is also included in some commercial toothpastes because it prevents tartar from forming on the teeth.

Happy Spring!