Bloodroot

Description:

The white flowers are about 1 inch across. The individual flower stalk is clasped by a single large, multi-lobed leaf. The entire plant may get to about a foot high, but I've seen many much shorter than this.

Habitat:

I usually find this plant in deciduous forests in early spring before trees leaf out, often near water or growing in very moist soils.

Notes:

It is a spring ephemeral so flowers emerge quickly in spring with leaves following shortly after the flower stalks. Leaves grow to full size after blooming and before emerging overhead tree foliage plunges them into shadow. By mid-summer the plant becomes senescent and becomes difficult to find.