Friday, May 4, 2012

Bleeding Heart Flower (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)

Hey Everyone!
Wanted to show some pictures of our Bleeding Heart! Sounds weird but I am talking about a plant from the Genus Lamprocapnos.
Technically this isn't in the family that are called bleeding hearts but it was at one point. It was called Bleeding Hearts because of the way the outer pedals look like hearts. The inner white pedals kinda of bleed out from inside "bleeding heart".

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It is a perennial plant that are from rhizomes. Native of Eastern Asia like Russia down to Japan and such. Was not introduced to Europe until 1840 from Japan by a guy named Robert Fortune. 

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They have compound leaves with leaflets in threes. They have fleshy like green and pink stems.
The bloom from late Spring to early Summer, and often during the summer the plant will go dormant.



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I didn't know but apparently touching the plant with your skin can cause irritation from a alkaloid called Isoquinoline. 

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I love that this one flower was more purple rather than pink like the rest.
These flowers are liked by people that are forest. People love it during Valentines day, mostly because of the heart shape.

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They do great in a moist but cool climate where it will need full sun. If you have it in a warmer and dry climate then it will need more shade. Some bugs will feed on the leaves. Be careful with the roots as they are fragile and if you are going to take some cuttings do it in the Spring. 

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Interesting!

source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprocapnos_spectabilis

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