Flora of North America species comparison

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Dicentra eximia

bleeding heart, eastern bleeding-heart, fringe bleeding-heart, turkey corn, wild bleeding-heart
Habit Plants perennial, scapose, from elongate, stout, scaly rhizomes.
Leaves

(10-)20-35(-55) × (5-)10-15(-30) cm;

blade with 4 orders of leaflets and lobes;

abaxial surface glaucous;

penultimate lobes lanceolate to oblong or ovate, (6-)10-20(-35) × 2-5 mm.
Inflorescences

paniculate, 5-many-flowered, usually exceeding leaves, (20-)30-45(-65) cm;

bracts lanceolate, 3-6(-11) × 1-2 mm, apex acuminate.
Flowers

pendent;

sepals reniform, 2-5(-8) × 1.5-4 mm, apex acuminate;

petals rose-purple to pink, rarely white;

outer petals (15-)20-25(-30) × 2-5 mm, reflexed portion 4-8 mm;

inner petals (15-)18-22(-25) mm, blade 2-4 mm, claw linear-lanceolate, 5-10(-14) × 1-2.5 mm, crest 1-3 mm diam., exceeding apex by 2-3 mm;

filaments of each bundle connate at base and near apex, distinct in between, distinct portion of median filament forming loop that lies within base of outer petal; nectariferous tissue borne toward base of median filament;

style 7-14 mm;

stigma 2-horned.
Capsules

oblong to ovoid, (15-)18-22(-27) × ca. 4 mm.
Seeds

slightly reniform, ca. 2 mm diam., finely reticulate, elaiosome present.
2n

= 16.

Dicentra eximia
Phenology Flowering mid spring–early fall.
Habitat Dry to moist, rocky, mountain woods, often in rock crevices at cliff bases
Elevation 100-1700 m (300-5600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
MD; NC; NJ; PA; TN; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The natural range of Dicentra eximia extends along the Appalachians from North Carolina and Tennessee to Maryland and Pennsylvania. It is frequently cultivated and sometimes escapes outside that area, but it evidently has not become truly naturalized beyond it. Such garden escapes, perhaps including misidentified plants of D. formosa, also widely cultivated, are almost surely the basis for reports of D. eximia from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.

Several patented hybrids between Dicentra eximia and D. formosa are sold in nurseries.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fumariaceae > Dicentra
Sibling taxa
D. canadensis, D. chrysantha, D. cucullaria, D. formosa, D. nevadensis, D. ochroleuca, D. pauciflora, D. uniflora
Synonyms Fumaria eximia, Bicuculla eximia
Name authority (Ker Gawler) Torrey: Fl. New York 1: 46. (1843)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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