Spring is in full swing in the Sierra, and we’re blessed with an abundance of wildflowers this time of year. Plants are putting their best foot forward, producing showy flowers with the intent of attracting the right pollinator for successful reproduction. And the non-flowering plants – the pines, fir, and juniper, among others – are coating the region with their broadcast pollen in the hopes that one or two of those yellow grains makes it to the female cones and fertilizes the eggs.
One distinctive plant, if you happen to find yourself in the shade of the forest this time of year, is the snowplant. Contrary to some local myths, snowplant does not sprout out of the snow. The scientific name for snowplant is Sarcodes sanguine, which is Latin for ‘blood-red flesh.’ This blood- red fleshy plant, that some say resembles a big red stalk of asparagus, typically emerges just after snow melt. You are most likely to find it growing from May to early July, at elevations ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, in the shade under the canopy of the mixed conifer and subalpine forests, especially the red fir forest.
John Muir described this ‘bright red glowing pillar of fire’ as the flower that ‘is more admired by tourists than any other in California.’ It is bright red because it lacks the chlorophyll that gives plants their green color and is required by plants for photosynthesis. Since it can’t perform photosynthesis, it is in a unique group of plants that cannot produce their own food. Snowplant is a mycophyte, which literally means ‘fungus eater.’ It derives its nutrition by parasitizing mycorrhizae, a symbiotic association of fungi and tree roots.
Some Native Americans dried and ground the plant into a powder to relieve toothaches and other mouth pain. Parts of the plant are also edible, but I am not going to tell you which because snowplant is protected from collecting under California state law. So we all get to continue enjoying its spring vibrancy during our walks in the forest this time of year.
