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Dicentra (Greek, dis, kentron, two-spurred, but originally misprinted Diclytra, and then supposed to be Dielytra). Fumariaceae; by some this family is combined with Papaveraceae. Charming hardy perennial plants with much-cut foliage, and clustered attractive flowers of interesting structure.
Herbs of various habit, erect; diffuse or climbing, often stemless, with rhizome horizontal and branching or more or less bulbous: lvs. ternately compound or dissected: fls. rose-red, yellow or white in attractive racemes, very irregular, with 4 petals cohering into a heart-shaped or 2-spurred apparently gamopetalous corolla (the 2 outer petals oblong with spreading tips and spurred or saccate at base, the inner 2 narrow and clawed and crested or winged and more or less united over the stigma); sepals 2, very small, scale-like; stamens 6, in sets of 3; pistil 1-celled, with a 2-4- crested and sometimes 2-4-horned stigma, ripening into an oblong or linear 2-valved caps, bearing crested seeds; pedicels 2-bracted.—About 15 species, in N. Amer., W. Asia and the Himalayas. The names Bikukulla (or Bicuculla) and Capnorchis are older than Dicentra, but are rejected by the "nomina conservanda" list of the Vienna code.
The squirrel-corn and dutchman's breeches are two of the daintiest native springtime flowers; and the bleeding-heart is one of the choicest memories of old- fashioned gardens: it is also the most widely cultivated of all the plants of this delightful order. Though long known to herbaria, plants of bleeding-heart were not introduced to western cultivation from Japan until the late forties of last century. Robert Fortune saw it on the Island of Chusan, where he also got Diervilla rosea and the "Chusan daisy," the parent of pompon chrysanthemums. The first five plants seen in England flowered in May, 1847. It rapidly spread into every garden in the land, and is now rich in home associations. It is an altogether lovely plant. The species of Dicentra may be classed as caulescent and acaulescent. The stemless kinds send up their short scapes directly from the ground, as D. Cucullaria, D. canadensis, D. formosa, D. eximia. The species with leaf-bearing stems are such as D. chrysantha and D. spectabilis. In the species here described the flowers are nodding except in D. chrysantha.
Dicentras are easily cultivated in borders and wild gardens. Two or three kinds can be readily secured from the woods in the East. Effort should be made to reproduce the natural conditions, especially the degree of shade. They like a rich light soil. Propagation is by dividing crowns or roots. The forcing of bleeding-hearts, though pactically unknown in America, is said to be commoner in England than outdoor culture. The forcing must be very gentle and the plants kept as near the glass as possible. It is best to have fresh plants each year, and return the forced ones to the border. None of the species is much cultivated with the exception of the bleeding-heart (D. spectabilis).
D. torulosa, Hook. f. & Thoms., of the Himalayan region, has been intro. abroad. It is an annual climber, 10-16 ft.: lvs. attractively cut: So. 6-8 together, yellow: fr. red. L. H. B.
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#REDIRECT [[Bleeding Heart]]
#REDIRECT [[Bleeding Heart]]