snow plant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A fleshy saprophytic plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) in the heath family, native to western North America, having a scaly reddish stalk and scarlet flowers and typically emerging early in the spring.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a fleshy bright red saprophytic plant of the mountains of western North America that appears in early spring while snow is on the ground