With empty baskets and open hearts, they enter the green world. Yes, a whole other world unto itself, where plants communicate with water, rock, animal, human.

On this fine day, they were looking for bloodroot to harvest for medicine and to plant in the woods where the teacher lived so that it could thrive, grow and be appreciated.

It knew that they were coming on this day. It was waiting. Perhaps it wanted to be near the Ghost Pipe, Trillium, Black Cohosh or Wild Ginger that resided in the woods where the teacher made her home. Maybe it wanted to be closer to Sweet Water Creek.

The girl and the teacher were searching and searching, mumbling prayers under their breath, brushing back fallen leaves once yellow, red, orange, now brown. There were hardly any clues, no leaves that had died back, no little nubs of root sticking out of the ground. Only an approximate location and memory of the tree where the teacher had harvested some of the plant the year before.

The girl was just about done filling her basket with flower bulbs, when her teacher screamed, "I found some. I found some." A miracle had happened. The plant they were looking for had shown itself.

The girl walked over to where the white haired woman who was her teacher was standing. The two started collecting the root, blood red in color, growing only a few inches below the surface, only to discover that the hillside was covered with it. They left some offerings of hair, and masala that the girl had made, profusely thanking bloodroot for giving itself to them.

The girl and the teacher went back home to wash the muddy roots, discovering with wonder and joy how the plant created a scab where part of its root had been cut, much like how human skin scabs over when wounded.

The girl did not know much about this plant at all, only that she felt a sense of deep peace wash over her when she was near it. Parts of the roots looked like arteries, veins and fingers. Blood red liquid oozed out from the plant when she cut its body to make a tincture. Indeed, the plant's Latin name Sanguinaria canadensis contains the word sanguine, meaning consisting of or related to blood.

Bloodroot has many gifts to offer us. A deep sense of peace, and purity of emotions and spirit are an important part of its medicine. Sanguinaria is invaluable in its diluted and energized state as a homeopathic remedy. It is helpful for a wide range of effect; for allergies where one is particualrly affected by odors, flowers, pollen, frequent sneezing and watery nasal discharge, for right shoulder burstitis where raising one's arm, lying on it or turning in bed makes the pain worse, or for help with acid reflux where one craves spicy foods. It is also helpful for migraines that are on the right side starting in the neck and ending in the eye, which improve with vomiting and sleep or passing gas either up or downward. Kate Gilday, of Woodland Essences makes a flower essence of bloodroot that is helpful for protection while moving forward in one¹s evolution.

Bloodroot's herbal uses are limited these days for a few reasons.

One is that it is a very strong plant, best left to the experienced practitioner. It is used as a salve for skin cancers and works wonders as a mouth rinse, though its taste is enough to kill you. Taste is a good teacher. Another reason is that the lush carpets of bloodroot that once existed in the Northeast are vanishing. It is one of many wild indigenous medicinal plants in this country that are currently at risk of becoming extinct due to human activities. Occasionally, large stands are found in Adirondack State Park.

Perhaps you don't know about bloodroot, have never even heard of it before you read this article. Did you know that many of the bestselling herbs, such as echinacea, black cohosh, American ginseng, goldenseal and Hawaiian wild kava are suffering due to habitat loss, caused by urban sprawl and deforestation. These plants are additionally being stressed by the skyrocketing herbal industry.

According to Richard Liebmann, N.D., former Executive Director of United Plant Savers, "34,000 plant species-12% of plants worldwide and 29% of plants in the United States have become so rare that they could easily disappear." Many of the most important native medicinal plants that have been used for healing for thousands of years are threatened with extinction. As people who use herbs for our health and livelihoods, we are responsible to the plants themselves to ensure their survival.

The plants are our ancestors, our family, our teachers. Without them, we cannot survive. When we lose a plant species, we loose not only all the stories and traditions that surround that piece of the earth. We loose a part of ourselves, we forget who we truly are and wander the earth misguided, continuing to destroy the very life we rely on.

There are other choices and other ways of being. We can join organizations such as United Plant Savers. UPS is a non profit grassroots organization that works to conserve and restore native medicinal plants and their habitats while ensuring an abundant and renewable supply of medicinal plants for generations to come. UPS was formed through hard work by botanists, herbalists and farmers, who have a love affair with the plants.