Tonics–Spring Cleaning for the Blood

Perennial roots, tall leaves, O the winter shall not freeze you delicate leaves,
Every year shall you bloom again, out from where you retired you shall emerge again; O I do not know whether many passing by will discover you or inhale your faint odor, but I believe a few will; O slender leaves! O blossoms of my blood!
~Walt Whitman, Scented Herbage of my Breast

Sanguinaria canadensis

The bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), an early spring ephemeral wildflower native to the woodlands of Eastern North America, is blooming in our woodland garden which means spring has officially sprung. The blooming of this dainty white flower (named for it’s fleshy root whose sap runs thick and red like blood) signals that the Virtue of the Land is rising from its winter sleep. This also means it’s the proper time to prepare and take our annual spring tonic.

What follows is a repost of an article we wrote a few years back on the old Appalachian theory behind the use of blood tonics. Continue reading Tonics–Spring Cleaning for the Blood