Re: Bloodroot... WOW

<The clumps are literally covered with flowers, some reaching 3.25 inches in
diameter.>

WOW  . . . more than three inches. Sounds like a must have.

 I am growing the fully double beautiful bloodroot variety that was almost
lost to cultivation. This mutation was discovered in Dayton, Ohio in 1916.
It differed from our native variety in that it is sterile; it can have sixty
long lasting petals rather than the eight or twelve flighty ones of the
native variety; it has larger leaves and rhizomes; and it cannot survive
without regular division. If left alone, it crowds to the surface where it
dries and dies. This was the fate of the discoverer's colony after his death
in 1966. A rhizome had been given to the famed plant hunter,  E.H. Wilson
who named it 'Sanguinaria canadensis variety multiplex' to distinguish it
from the fourteen to sixteen petalled variety, 'flore- pleno' but it
apparently suffered a similar fate after Wilson's tragic death. Another
rhizome was given to Henry Teuscher, the director emeritus of the Montreal
Botanical Garden, who generously propagated it and shared it with gardeners
around the world, ensuring its survival.

To me, the survival of this beautiful bloodroot mutation not only underlines
the importance of keen botanical observation but also the importance of
sharing our horticultural treasures.

Does anybody grow the 'flore pleno ' variety?  Can it and  the 'TN' variety
produce seed or are they sterile as well?

Brian Carson  Zn5a

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