The Resurrection Flower – Montana’s Bitterroot Wildflower

The bitterroot has been a Montana icon for hundreds of years. Additionally know because the “resurrection flower,” the plant is famous for its means to dwell for greater than a yr with out water. The bitterroot is low-growing perennial with a fleshy taproot and a branched base. The stem of the bitterroot is so short that the flower appears nearly to sit down on the bottom. Every plant has a single flower ranging in coloration from white to a deep pink or rose. The leaves die off when the flower blooms, leaving the looks of a flower rising straight from the soil. Because of this, the plant can be known as the rockrose valley of flowers trek.

Meriwether Lewis collected the bitterroot on the well-known Lewis and Clark expedition. The bitterroot blooms in Could and June. The bitterroot was an vital a part of the eating regimen of Montana Indians. Many Montana tribes–including the Flathead, Spokane, Nez Perce, Kalispell and Pend d’Oreille–timed their spring migration with the blooming of the bitterroot. The roots have been gathered close to what’s now Missoula. After being cleaned and dried, the roots have been a nutritious, light-weight snack.

The roots have been cooked earlier than consuming and normally blended with meat or berries. Truffles of the cooked root might be carried and eaten whereas touring. The roots of the bitterroot plant have been thought-about a luxurious and might be traded with different Indian tribes in addition to with pioneers and trappers. A sack of the precious ready roots might be traded for a horse!

The bitterroot grew to become Montana’s state flower by standard vote in 1895. The bitterroot has lent its name to a mountain vary, a river and the well-known Bitterroot Valley. Annually in Montana a two-day annual bitterroot competition takes place within the Bitterroot Valley to have fun the versatile bitterroot plant.