Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 81 



Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa) 

 By Roland Rice 



The shy Bleeding Heart, Dicentra formosa, seems to seek the 

 seclusion of the cool, cloistered woods, where from the rich, moist 

 soil it lifts its slender little branches with many pendant rose-colored, 

 heart-shaped blooms. Ihe pale green leaves are cut and lobed and 

 add much to the delicate beauty and graceful appearance of the 

 plant, which is about two feet high. There is no legend from the 

 olden times concerning these flowers, because they have not been 

 known to man for long. But perhaps they would have given Omar 

 Khayyam another illustration for his fancy concerning flowers, had 

 he known them. It was he who sang : 



"I sometimes think that never blozvs so red 

 The rose as where some buried Caesar bled." 



Indeed, when finding these flowers, one feels that there must 

 be tales concerning them ; for the blooms are most striking in ap- 

 pearance and appropriately named for their heart shape. The simple 

 English translation of the Greek and Latin names are quite descrip- 

 tive of the blossoms, but the popular fancy easily takes Bleeding 

 Heart as the best name for them. The Greek word Dicentra means 

 double-spurred, and a Latin name, Bicuculla, which is preferred by 

 some botanists, means double-hooded. The word formosa means 

 beautifully formed. The flowers are about three-quarters of an inch 

 long, in pendant rows upon the little branches, and sometimes make 

 quite a beautiful effect by their numbers. They grow in Marin 

 County and northward from the Bay Region, and are to be found in 

 the Sierra Nevadas during April-June. 



There are several other members of the Fumitory Family to be 

 found growing in various parts of the State. Some botanists have 

 classed these beautiful flowering plants with the Poppy Family 

 because of the similarity of the plan of the flowers, although they 

 have not the least similarity in outward appearance. The name 

 Fumitory seems to be taken from the characteristics of other species 

 which are said to have a smoky odor, whence their name Capnoides 

 in Greek, meaning "smoke-like," which is usually applied to the 

 types having but one spur on the flower. It is a small family, though 

 widely distributed over North America and Asia. The Bleeding 

 Heart of our gardens was imported from the island of Sakhalin 

 near Japan, and was brought to this country early in the last century. 

 Our native Bleeding Heart, Dicentra formosa, is much smaller than 

 its imported relative, but is quite as beautiful. 



Another interesting member of the Bleeding Heart Family is 

 the Golden Ear Drops, Dicentra chrysantha, which grows on the 

 high, dry ridges of the inner Coast Ranges and in the southern part 

 of the State. It is not common, and is one of the few plants which 

 wait until the hot, dry season is at its height, when it may be found 

 blooming in late July. I have found this kind growing amid the 

 chaparral of my hills as tall as six feet, with pale green, fern-like 

 foliage, smooth stems, rather coarse, and bearing softly shaded yel- 



