Candles, Blood, Trolls, and Death

This post began at flowers and wound up at a man with a hole in his head. Ick. And yet, I couldn’t help myself: I looked again.

We are not the boss of our own curiosity, are we? Or of our own writing.

Here is a flower that used to be called the Easter Candle:

Guess Why

Here they are later in the day:

Now They’ve Got Their Easter White On

You have to be quick to catch them like this, because it happens fast, in early Spring, only one day a year.

They remind me of the Hattifatteners from the Moomintroll books: Those odd, thin, white creatures which also poked up quickly and mysteriously from the ground:

Cute, But a Little Creepy.

When the flowers open fully, they don’t look anything like candles, piccolos, OR Hattifatteners:

What a Happy Spring!

Enjoy Them–They’ll Be Gone Tomorrow (But the Foliage Will Stay Green a Long While : )

When you cut the leaves or stem of an Easter Candle, instead of wax, you get blood.

Talk About Creepy.

It’s dark and permanent enough that you can use it for ink, or for dye. The Indians did.

Here are the roots:

Are Red Rhubarb Roots Like This?

That’s why a more common name for Easter Candles is bloodroot.

The scientific name starts with “Sanguinaria”: “bloody”.
 

Sorry…Couldn’t Resist…

An older name for bloodroot is bloodwort. “Wort” in a plant name tells you the plant name is very old, and the plant was used long ago in herbal medicine.

“Black salves” [savs–healing creams]–with sanguinarine [san-GUIN-uh-reen–bloodwort] and other ingredients were used to burn skin on purpose:
To remove warts and moles, and to try to cure skin cancers. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes, people still use ’em. BUT: Sometimes, they scar you really badly, or make holes in you, or kill you.

Bloodwort is an escharotic [ess-kar-OT-ick]: Something that makes skin DIE.

It turns to a special dark scab called an “eschar” [ESS-kar–Greek for scab]. This scab and skin sloughs off [sluff–fall away; especially in layers].

A Small Eschar–They Come In Super-Size, Too

A Tragic and Extreme Case of Sloughing

Escharotics include sulfuric acid, gangrene, and necrotizing [NECK-ruh-tie-zing–rotting and dying) spider bites–like the ones from the brown recluse.

It’s True: They’re More Afraid of You Than You Are of Them

Here are your mnemonics [neh-MAH-nicks–memory tricks] for today:

“An escharotic is necrotic”. “A black salve cream can cause gangrene.” “A thick black scab is something BAD.”

Okay. This is getting dorky, AND gross. Time for a Moomin break. It will still be dorky, but SWEET:

Oh, Moomintroll. Who Could DRINK That Coffee and Make Your Cuteness Go Away?

Probably the Same Person Who Could Eat This Cupcake

In most western countries, you need a prescription to get an escharotic salve. People who make or sell unauthorized ones like Cansema have been charged with crimes.

There are TWO reasons why non-prescribed black salves are dangerous:

REASON 1

Remember that word “slough” [sluff]? The dead tissue is cast off (thrown) from the SURFACE of the skin. Other stuff might be happening underneath: There can be an infection growing, or skin cancer still spreading.

A doctor can decide whether to let an eschar slough off naturally, or to debride it [deh-BREED–carefully separate and remove; e.g. with a scalpel] to prevent infection or to treat the cancer underneath. Do YOU feel qualified to decide whether you need debridement?

Now, THIS Guy is Qualified for Debridement.

REASON 2

You can’t know how much of the sanguinaria–the stuff that will burn your skin away like ACID–is in that salve you bought from your friend’s curandero (healer). You could burn a lot more than you want.

*** WARNING: LINK FOR THE STRONG OF STOMACH ***

Here’s a man who decided to treat his own skin cancer with bloodroot salve. If you’re thinking, “He must have had a hole in his head.”, you are right. After he used the salve, that’s what he had.

(I would have included that pic here, but it is copyrighted–I try not to include those without permission. What the linked blogger did or didn’t do is his own concern.)

 
This whole post started when I was reading the 1956 Newberry Award winner “Miracles on Maple Hill” by Virginia Sorensen (a lovely book), and was introduced to Easter Candles and other flowers of which I’d never heard. Sparked my curiosity, it did.

“Babeous Nerdous Supremeous“

I have lots and lots of more important things to do–vital things–but had to stop and write this instead. Silly, really.

ADDENTTUM

Bloodwort (Sanguinaria) is approved by the FDA for use as an additive in herbal toothpastes and mouthwashes–for its supposed anti-bacterial and anti-plaque properties. Yet Wikipedia claims that:

“…products containing bloodroot are strongly associated with the development of …a premalignant lesion that may develop into oral cancer.” Wikipedia Entry on Sanguinaria.

My Nomination For Our Next PSA!

CREDITS

Most of the information in this post is quoted or paraphrased from the Wikipedia items cited in the post.

STAR TREK ADDENDUM

Usually, bees pollinate the Easter Candles and ants spread their pollinated seeds. But if these cute little candles pop out too early when it’s still too cold for bees, they borrow a page from an old Star Trek and SHOOT their own pollen out.

Be Especially Wary, Visiting Vulcans!

 

P#SS-POOR POST ADDENDUM

Too late, I found a bloodroot post FAR superior to mine (and a brilliant nature site). Sigh.
 
Correction to meaning of “puccoon” (Really sorry for the bad scholarship, you-all): An Algonquin word that meant “red”.
 

Posted by Outlier Babe on 2012/07/23

https://outlierbabe.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/candles-blood-trolls-and-death/