Dicentra eximia
Dicentra formosa
bleeding heart, eastern bleeding-heart, fringe bleeding-heart, turkey corn, wild bleeding-heart
Oregon bleeding heart, Pacific bleeding-heart, Pacific bleedinghearts, western bleeding-heart
(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.
(15-)25-40(-55) × (8-)12-20(-35) cm;
blade with 3-5 orders of leaflets and lobes;
abaxial surface and sometimes adaxial surface glaucous;
penultimate lobes oblong, distal ones usually coarsely 3-toothed at apex, (4-)10-20(-50) × (1.5-)3-4(-8) mm.
paniculate, 5-many-flowered, usually exceeding leaves, (20-)30-45(-65) cm;
bracts lanceolate, 3-6(-11) × 1-2 mm, apex acuminate.
paniculate, 2-30-flowered, usually exceeding leaves;
bracts linear-lanceolate, 4-7(-12) × 1-2 mm, apex acuminate.
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.
pendent;
sepals lanceolate to ovate or nearly round, 2-7 × 2-3 mm;
petals rose-purple, pink, cream, or pale yellow, rarely white;
outer petals (12-)16-19(-24) × 3-6 mm, reflexed portion 2-5 mm;
inner petals (12-)15-18(-22) mm, blade 2-4 mm wide, claw linear-elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 7-10(-12) × 1-2 mm, crest 1-2 mm diam., exceeding apex by 1-2 mm;
filaments of each bundle connate from base to shortly below anthers except for a 2-3 mm portion of median filament just above base; nectariferous tissue borne along distinct portion of median filament;
style 3-9 mm;
stigma rhomboid, 2-horned.
oblong to ovoid, (15-)18-22(-27) × ca. 4 mm.
oblong, 4-5 mm diam.
slightly reniform, ca. 2 mm diam., finely reticulate, elaiosome present.
reniform, ca. 2 mm diam., finely reticulate, elaiosome present.
= 16.
Dicentra eximia
Dicentra formosa
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.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Andrews has been cited almost universally as the author of Fumaria formosa. However, Haworth's authorship of the sixth volume of Andrews' Botanists' Repository (in which this species was originally described) generally has been overlooked, and it was actually Haworth who first delineated F. formosa (W. T. Stearn 1944).
Early attempts to cross Dicentra formosa with D. eximia (2n = 16) failed, possibly because the D. formosa parents were tetraploids. Several later hybrids between the two species received plant patents and have become widely marketed throughout the flora area and elsewhere (K. R. Stern 1961, 1968; K. R. Stern and M. Ownbey 1971).
Both subspecies, as well as hybrids between them and Dicentra eximia, are widely cultivated.
The Skagit used a decoction of the roots of Dicentra formosa to expel worms; they chewed raw roots for toothaches (D. E. Moerman 1986, species not indicated).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petals rose-purple to pink, rarely white; leaf blades adaxially not glaucous (rarely glaucescent). | subsp. formosa |
1. Petals cream-colored or rarely pale yellow, rose-tipped; leaf blades adaxially distinctly glaucous. | subsp. oregana |
MD Biodiversity- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
