Bloodthirsty man of Canada

The sanguinary of Canada ( Sanguinaria canadensis ) is a herbaceous, long-lived and rhizomateuse plant of the family of the Papaveraceae. She is the only species of the kind Sanguinaria.

Common nouns: bloodthirsty man of Canada, dragon's blood, in : bloodroot, Indian Paint, red Paint root .

Description

The bloodthirsty man flowers early in spring in the forests of leafy trees of North America. Its single large sheet basilaire, thick and lobed, emerges directly from the rhizome, just like the flower. This one measures from 2,5 to 4 cm in diameter and is composed of 2 green sepals, 8 to 16 white petals and an indefinite number of yellow cheesecloths. The flower, which appears at the beginning wrapped by the sheet under development, opens the morning and is closed again when comes the evening. The rhizome contains a characteristic orange red latex. The fruit is a green capsule in the shape of spindle.

Etymology

The name comes from Latin sanguinarius , bleeding, in reference to its red latex, and canadensis , of Canada.

Habitat

It is a plant which prefers wood rich person on the basic ground and one especially finds it in the forests of leafy trees.

Distribution

This species is found in the east of the North America.

Canada: South of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia.
State-Plain: Minnesota, in the west, until the New England, in the east. Extends towards the south until in Florida.

Toxicity

The plant contains sanguinarine, a toxic alkaloid. With raised amount, this substance causes vomiting, burns on the level of the exposed mucous membranes, a feeling of weakness, disorders cardiac and visual, and even death.

The sanguinarine is indeed a blocker of the NAK-ATPase, Enzyme transmembrane essential with the cellular metabolism which transports ions sodium towards the outside of the cell, and of the ions potassium towards the interior and thus ensures the maintenance of the Electrochemical potential of membrane. Its blocking thus results in a cellular death.

Use

Nonmedicinal uses

The Amerindians drew from latex a red dyeing for the face, the body or clothing, from where the English name “Indian Paint”.

Medicinal uses

The bloodthirsty man belonged to the popular pharmacopeia until the beginning of the XXe century. Its properties expectorantes and disinfectants made of it a useful remedy against the Bronchite, the Laryngite, the Asthme, the Fièvre and the Rhumatisme, but these uses were abandoned because of the toxicity of the plant. One made of them also cataplasms against the Ulcère S and the Cancer S of the skin. The sanguinarine has bactericidal properties and is an active ingredient of several rinse-stops and toothpastes because it is effective to fight against the Dental plaque and the Gingivite. However, of recent research showed that a prolonged use could cause cancerous lesions in the mouth.

Others

Sandpapered, an Amerindian tribe of the Nebraska, believed that if an young man coated the palm of latex of the plant and tightened the hand of an young girl, this one would accept to marry it.

External bonds

ITIS 18990

References

William A. Niering and Nancy C. Olmstead, The Audubon Society Field Guides to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Area , Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979 0-394-50432-1.

Ernest Small and Paul Mr. Catling, Canadian medicinal Cultures , scientific Presses of the CNRC, Ottawa, 2000 0-660-96408-2. Electronic version

Roger Tory Petersen and Margaret McKenny, has Field Guide to Wildflowers: Northeastern and North-exchange North America , Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1996 0-395-91172-9.

Marie-Victorin Brother, Flora laurentienne , Presses of the University of Montreal, Montreal, 1964 0-8405-0018-1.

Gisele Lamoureux and collaborators, spring wild Plants , France-America Editions, Montreal, 1979 2-89001-005-8.

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