FUMITORY FAMILY 



(Fumariacece) 



Delicate perennial herbs with compound, finely-dissected 

 leaves and irregular, flattened, heart-s ^ed flowers, the 4 

 petals in 2 pairs, the outer, larger with spreading tips, and 

 spurred or saccate at the base. Some botanists include the 

 family with the Papaveraceae. 



GOLDEN EAR DROPS (Dicentra chrysantha, Hook & A.). 

 Flowers yellow, \ to f inch long, in loose, terminal panicles; 

 stems and foliage pale and glaucous; the plant 2 to 5 feet tall, 

 blooming from May to July on sunny chaparral-clad hillsides 

 and in sandy washes of Central and Southern California. 

 Ihis is a rather stiff -looking plant, but its ferny leaves and 

 alert, golden blossoms (obviously akin, because of their pecul- 

 iar shape, to the Bleeding Heart, rather than to the Ear Drops 

 of the gardens), make it a welcome sight to summer ramblers. 

 The flowers, however, do not droop but sit erect in a most 

 wide-awake fashion, their two outer petals spreading their 

 ears out conspicuously as if hungry for all the gossip of their 

 r.eighborhood. 



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