Dicentra
Bleeding Hearts | |
---|---|
Genus: | Dicentra |
Family: | Fumariaceae |
Type: | Annuals and herbaceous perennials |
Pollination: | Insect |
Dicentra is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Fumariaceae, native to Asia and North America. The common name Bleeding heart is used for many of the species. This name comes from the appearance of the pink flower, which resembles the shape of a heart with a drop of blood descending.
All members of the genus are toxic if eaten by humans, housepets, or livestock.
Description edit
Foliage is basal and alternate, pinnately dissected or compound, lacking stipules, and without hairs. Stems contain a thick, clear juice. Roots are rhizomes, tubers, taproots, or fibrous. Fruit an elongated capsule.
Many species are late ephemerals, dying down in mid to late summer.
Growing conditions edit
Deep, rich soils in light shade to shade.
Varieties edit
- Dicentra canadensis - Squirrel-corn
- Dicentra cucullaria - Dutchman's-breeches
- Dicentra eximia - Wild Bleedinghearts, Fringed Bleeding Heart
- Dicentra formosa - Western or Pacific Bleeding Heart
- Dicentra pusilla
- Dicentra scandens
- Dicentra spectabilis - Bleeding Heart
Maintenance edit
Cut back when leaves are fully yellowed.
Propagation edit
Division or seed
Pests and diseases edit
Leaf Spots Downy Mildews Peronospora dicentrae Wilts
- Pellicularia rolfsii
- Cerotelium dicentrae (alt host Wood Nettles)
References edit
- Ann Fowler Rhoads and Timothy A. Block (2000). The Plants of Pennsylvania: An Illustrated Manual. Anna Anisko, illustrator. Morris Arboretum, University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 435–436.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - Christopher Brickell and Judith D. Zuk (1997). The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. DK Publishing. pp. 362–363.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - Staff of the L. H. Bailey Hortorium (1976). Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press. pp. 380–381.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - Pirone, Pascal P. (1978). Diseases & Pests of Ornamental Plants (Fifth Edition ed.). John Wiley & Sons, New York. p. 242.
{{cite book}}
:|edition=
has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help)