redwood forest plants

Two bright red snowflowers on the forest floor.

The bloody flesh-like thing

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This strange little thing is called a snowflower or snow plant, and it is found fairly commonly in giant sequoia forests and other coniferous montane areas of California, Oregon, and Nevada. These common names are far friendlier than its scientific name, Sarcodes sanguinea, which translates roughly to “bloody flesh-like thing," in reference to the bright red color of the entire plant.

Snow plant. Photo by Isolino, Flickr Creative Commons

Sequoias and Snow Plants

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If you have read my recent blog posts, you can see a plant identification-theme forming. I promise it won’t be forever but today I have one more to throw at you. This time I will take you to the giant …

What’s That Flower?

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After taking a plant identification class a few weeks ago, I’ve become obsessed with identifying everything I see while hiking in the redwood forest. And although I have walked through many forests, I still see plants that are new to …