Outdoor Hour Challenge
Bloodroot
Inside Preparation Work:
- Read pages 466-468 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #119). You can check to see if you have bloodroot as a native plant in your area: USDA article on Bloodroot. Information and images for the study of bloodroot: Bloodroot (Canada) and images on USDA, Image of the root.
- Bloodroot video on Youtube: Bloodroot.
- Advanced Study Video: Bloodroot. Please note that I do not endorse the medicinal uses mentioned in this video.
Outdoor Hour Time:
- The Handbook of Nature Study suggests that the bloodroot be studied in its natural setting so plan on taking a early spring wildflower hike in the woods. Look for the leaves and flowers of the bloodroot, remembering that the flower will be wrapped in a leaf before it blossoms.
- Make sure your state doesn’t have the bloodroot on its Threatened or Endangered Species list before you pick any flowers or dig up any plants: USDA.
- The Handbook of Nature Study suggests a comparison of the bloodroot and the poppy (#7). If you have access to both flowers, this is a simple way to hone your observations skills.
- If you live where bloodroot is not native (like here in California), look for its relative the California poppy. There is a Outdoor Hour Challenge for the poppy: Poppies and Buttercups.
Follow-up Activity:
- Create a nature journal entry for the bloodroot recording the various observations suggested in the Handbook of Nature Study lesson.
- There is a coloring page included in the ebook: Bloodroot.
- There is a notebook page included in the ebook for any Early Spring Wildflower you find to study.
- Advanced Study: There are many flowers in the Poppy family ( Papaveraceae). Research two flowers in this family and record your facts in your nature journal or on this notebook page. There is a notebook page to compare the bloodroot and the poppy included in this ebook.
- Advanced Study: Read about the Native American traditional uses of Bloodroot.
Join us for this series of challenges every week here on the Handbook of Nature Study.
If you want to purchase the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Winter Nature Study Continues Ebook Announcement page for more details.