Dicentra eximia

Dicentra eximia
File:Dolly Sods (Dicentra Exima) Fringed Bleeding Heart.jpg
Conservation status
Apparently Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Papaveraceae
Subfamily:	Fumarioideae
Tribe:	Fumarieae
Subtribe:	Corydalinae
Genus:	Dicentra
Species:	D. eximia
Binomial name
Dicentra eximia

Dicentra eximia (wild or fringed bleeding-heart, turkey-corn) is a flowering plant with fernlike leaves and oddly shaped flowers native to the Appalachian Mountains. It is similar to the Pacific bleeding-heart (Dicentra formosa), which grows on the Pacific Coast.

Description

Leaves are finely divided and gray-green, growing from the base of the plant.

Flowers are pink and bloom in tight clusters at the top of leafless, fleshy stems above the leaves from mid-spring to autumn. The four petals are connected at the base. The two outer petals are pouched at the base and bent back at the tips. The inner petals are perpendicular to the outer petals and connected at the tip. The pistil is enclosed within the inner petals, and the two stamens are on either side. There are two tiny, triangular, pink sepals above the petals.

Seeds are borne in a plump, pointed pod. They ripen to black while the pod is still green. Each has a white elaiosome prized by ants.

Pacific bleeding-heart (Dicentra formosa) is frequently confused with and sold as Dicentra eximia. It has wider, more rounded flowers with shorter wings on the outer petals (see the photo below).

• Flower and fruit structure
• Fringed bleeding-heart buds.JPG

  A cluster of buds

• Fringed bleeding-heart buds2.jpg

  Almost opened flowers

• 

  A cluster of opened flowers

• Dicentra eximia vs Dicentra Luxuriant.jpg

  Flower shape: Dicentra 'Luxuriant' (a Dicentra formosa hybrid) compared with Dicentra eximia

• Dicentra eximia flower dissection.png

  The flower's structure: four petals, two stamens, and a stigma

• Dicentra eximia pod.jpg

  Pod and ripe seeds with white elaiosomes

Ecology

Fringed bleeding-heart is native to the Appalachians from southwestern Pennsylvania south to Tennessee and North Carolina. It typically grows in rocky woodland at an altitude of 330 to 5,575 ft (100 to 1,700 m).

• Wild plants
• Wild Bleeding Hearts.jpg

  A plant with flowerbuds

• DicentraeximiaDolly.JPG

  A wild plant growing amongst Tuscarora sandstone fragments in Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia

• Dollyflowers1 ForestWander.JPG

  Another wild plant in West Virginia

Cultivars

There are several cultivars of Dicentra eximia. Some are hybrids with Dicentra peregrina and Dicentra formosa.

Dicentra eximia

• Dicentra eximia 'Alba' — white flowers
• Dicentra eximia 'Snowdrift' — larger white flowers

Hybrids

• Dicentra 'Bountiful' — Dicentra formosa subsp. oregana × Dicentra eximia — rosy red flowers
• Dicentra 'King of Hearts' — Dicentra peregrina × (Dicentra formosa subsp. oregana × Dicentra eximia) — pink flowers, very finely cut leaves
• Dicentra 'Luxuriant' — Dicentra eximia × Dicentra peregrina — cherry-red flowers
• Dicentra 'Silversmith — Dicentra formosa subsp. oregana × Dicentra eximia — white, pink-flushed flowers
• Dicentra 'Stuart Boothman' — probably Dicentra formosa subsp. oregana × Dicentra eximia — deep pink flowers

External links

• USDA Plants Profile for Dicentra eximia
• Flora of North America: Dicentra eximia — map
• Native Plant Identification Network
• PlantFinder — Kemper Center for Home Gardening, Missouri Botanical Garden
• Kew Plant List
• Dicentra eximia — IPNI Listing