Dicentra

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

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

Deep, rich soils in light shade to shade.

Varieties

• 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

Cut back when leaves are fully yellowed.

Propagation

Division or seed

Pests and diseases

Dicentra cucullaria

Leaf Spots Downy Mildews Peronospora dicentrae Wilts

• Fusarium
• Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
• Verticillium

Stem Rots

• Pellicularia rolfsii

Rusts

• Cerotelium dicentrae (alt host Wood Nettles)

Viruses Slugs and Snails

References

• 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.
• Christopher Brickell and Judith D. Zuk (1997). The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants. DK Publishing. pp. 362–363.
• 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.
• 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)