#bitterbloom

Teagan Olivia King, from Bitterbloom

Rosepink (Sabatia angularis), also known as rose gentian and bitterbloom, is one summer wildflower that never fails to fill my heart with joy. You can spot this tall, prodigious bloomer from a mile away. A sun-loving biennial, rosepink produces a dazzling bouquet of the most amazing pink and white flowers with perfect yellow and lime-colored stars in their centers. Native Americans made a bitter tonic from this plant to increase appetite and aid with convalescence from illness - thus its common name. The bitterness of the plant’s leaves also deter deer from browsing it.

Tincture: Take 15 to 40 drops every 3 to 4 hours.

In addition to dense blazing star, rose pink (Sabatia angularis), also known as rose gentian, was in bloom along the edge of the alder thicket tonight. At home in a variety of habitats, including moist prairies, open woods, glades, and marshes, this herbaceous biennial produces multitudes of pink and occasionally white flowers on multi-branching stems. Each flower has five sepals and five stamens, which protrude from the points of a greenish-yellow, star-shaped “eye” at the center of the flower. This is yet another gorgeous native wildflower with a long history of medicinal use. A bitter tonic was once made from its leaves to treat pain and assist in digestion, resulting in the plant’s other common name: bitterbloom. Although biennial, rose pink self-seeds readily and will add dependable annual color to native wildflower gardens.

Rose pink (Sabatia angularis), also known as rose gentian, bitterbloom, and marsh pink, is a beautiful biennial, summer wildflower found growing in full to part sun in open, rocky woods, moist fields, and marshes, as well as on disturbed lands, such as former mine sites. The plant’s central stem is characteristically smooth, squared and winged with opposite branches forming higher up the stem. The plant’s leaves are smooth, green, and bluntly-ovate; they clasp the stem. The rosy-pink or white flowers have five petals, five yellow stamens with enlarged anthers, and a long, divided style; a five-sided yellow star adorns the center of the flower. From what I’ve read, rose pink is common throughout its range, but this was my first encounter with the plant in the local woods. Photos taken along Deckers Creek Trail.

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