DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 201 



DICENTRA. 



[From the Greek, meaning twice and spur, on account of the two spurs or 

 sacs at the base of tlie flowers.] 



This genus has had a hard time with regard to its name. 

 When first published, it was by a typographical error, 

 printed Diclytra / it was next called Dielytra^ a name by 

 which it goes in many of the catalogues. Several species 

 which the older botanists grouped under Corydalis are 

 included in this genus. 



Dic^ntra spectabilis. — Showy Dicentra, Bleeding 

 Heart. — This, one of the finest hardy herbaceous peren- 

 nials in cultivation, was brought from China, by Mr. For- 

 tune. It is a plant of neat dwarf habit, when grown in 

 pots, and two to three feet high, when grown in rich soil 

 in the garden. The branches of the plant are most grace- 

 fully curved. It is one of the most striking objects in the 

 whole range of floral attraction. The foliage is of a light 

 transparent green ; the flowers, which are produced on 

 stems in sprays, are of a bright rose pink, about the size 

 of a lozenge, and are heart shaped ; the corolla pearly 

 white, set in frosted silver ; the stalks are literally gem- 

 med, with these beautiful flowers, by hundreds. To cul- 

 tivate it in perfection, it must have a season of frost ; let 

 those for blooming in winter, be taken up early in Octo- 

 ber and potted, then place them in a cold frame, and let 

 the weather act on them till after Christmas ; remove them 

 in-doors, and they will flower in March. It is well to fill 

 the frame, in autumn, with decayed leaves, in which 

 plunge the pots to the rims. For out-door culture, for 

 which it is eminently calculated, it needs not the slightest 

 protection ; will endure the cold of Canada, and come up 

 in April, and flower splendidly in May ; can be divided 

 either in fall or spring. Grown in clumps, in a favored 

 part of. the garden, it shows to a great advantage. 



D. eximea. — Red-flowered Dicentra. — A handsome in- 

 9* 



