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Dicentra formosa
Also called Bleeding Heart, Western Bleeding Heart, Western Bleedingheart
Pacific bleeding heart is a native perennial woodland plant of western North America, grown for its fern-like foliage and drooping heart-shaped flowers. It thrives in cool, moist, shaded conditions and goes dormant in summer heat.
Dicentra formosa (western, wild or Pacific bleeding-heart) is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family, Papaveraceae (subfamily: Fumarioideae). With its fern-like foliage and inflorescence of drooping pink, purple, yellow or cream "hearts", this species is native to the Pacific Northwest of North America.
The Pacific bleeding-heart (Dicentra formosa subsp. formosa) was first noted by Europeans when the Scottish surgeon and naturalist Archibald Menzies encountered it on the Vancouver Expedition. Menzies collected seed in 1792 in Nootka Sound, and gave it to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1795. From there, seed made its way into cultivation in Europe. It apparently was not cultivated in the United States until 1835, when William Kenrick began selling the plant in Boston. The subspecies oregana was first cultivated around 1932, when it was offered by Borsch and Sons in Oregon, but is not grown very often.
The Pacific bleeding-heart is native to moist woodland, forest, and streambanks from California to British Columbia, from sea level to the subalpine zone.
Squirrel corn · Dutchman's breeches · Turkey corn · Komakusa · Bleeding heart
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dicentra formosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
