Dicentra formosa
Fumariaceae
Oregon bleeding heart, Pacific bleeding-heart, Pacific bleedinghearts, western bleeding-heart
fumitory family
when present leafy, erect to prostrate or climbing, simple or branching.
(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.
basal and/or cauline, alternate, mostly compound, sometimes simple, without stipules, petiolate;
blade with 2-6 odd-pinnate orders of leaflets and/or lobes.
paniculate, 2-30-flowered, usually exceeding leaves;
bracts linear-lanceolate, 4-7(-12) × 1-2 mm, apex acuminate.
terminal, axillary, extra-axillary, or leaf-opposed, unifloral or else multifloral and thyrsoid, paniculate, racemose, or corymbose;
peduncles present;
bracts present.
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.
bilaterally symmetric about 1 plane or each of 2 perpendicular planes;
pedicel present;
sepals caducous or persistent, 2, thin;
petals 4, distinct or coherent basally to almost completely connate, in 2 whorls of 2;
outer petals alike or dissimilar, 1 or both sometimes swollen or spurred basally;
inner petals alike, apically connate, clawed, with somewhat hollow, membranous, wrinkled, abaxial median crests;
stamens 6, in 2 bundles of 3 each, opposite outer petals;
filaments of each bundle partially to completely connate, sometimes basally adnate to petals, with basal nectariferous tissue often in form of spur;
anthers connivent, adhering to stigma, median anthers 2-locular, lateral anthers 1-locular;
pistil 1, 2-carpellate;
ovary 1-locular;
placentae parietal;
style threadlike, rigid;
stigma 1, compressed, with 2 lobes or apical horns, and/or 2-8 papillar stigmatic surfaces.
capsular, indehiscent or dehiscent and valvate.
oblong, 4-5 mm diam.
reniform, ca. 2 mm diam., finely reticulate, elaiosome present.
1-many, small, elaiosome (oil-bearing appendage) often present.
Dicentra formosa
Fumariaceae
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.)
Genera 19, species ca. 450 (4 genera, 23 species in the flora).
The genera of Fumariaceae are distributed mostly in the Old World and primarily in temperate Eurasia. One acaulescent species of Dicentra occurs in Siberia, Kamchatka, and Japan; a caulescent species is found in western China and northern Burma; and nine climbing species are distributed throughout the Himalayan area and Burma. More than 400 taxa of Corydalis and 50 of Fumaria, distributed primarily throughout temperate, often montane, regions of Eurasia and Africa, have been described. Adlumia comprises only two species, which are quite similar morphologically, one from North America and the other from East Asia.
Most European and some American systematists treat Fumariaceae as a subfamily of Papaveraceae. However, although a few taxa are morphologically intermediate, the members of Fumariaceae generally are quite distinct from those of Papaveraceae in several respects, including floral symmetry, sap character, and stamen number and fusion.
(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 |
1. Petals almost completely connate, spongy; plants climbing, petiolules and reduced leaflets twining and tendril-like. | Adlumia |
1. Petals coherent or connate only basally, not spongy; plants not climbing. | → 2 |
2. Both outer petals swollen or spurred basally. | Dicentra |
2. Only 1 outer petal swollen or spurred basally. | → 3 |
3. Fruit an elongate, dehiscent capsule; seeds more than 1, with elaiosome. | Corydalis |
3. Fruit a ± globose, indehiscent capsule; seeds 1, without elaiosome. | Fumaria |
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