365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Native Bleeding-Heart
Day 213: On May 5, I posted a photo of the commercially-cultivated Asian Bleeding-Heart in my garden and mentioned that it is both larger and more colourful than our native variety. They bear the same species name, Lamprocapnos spectabilis (formerly Dicentra spectabilis), but I suspect there is subspecies nomenclature I have not been able to unearth. This charming plant is easy to grow, but prefers a shady or semi-shady site where its roots will be kept cool and moist. The stems and roots are fragile, so once you've planted your Bleeding-Hearts, don't disturb them and they will reward you for many years to come.
Bleeding-Heart flowers have a unique physiology. Each blossom is composed of four petals. The two outer ones form the pink "heart" which gives them their common name. The inner two petals are the pointy bit which projects from the bottom of the heart. These petals fully enclose the reproductive structures of the flower and never open. The flower is cleistogamous, i.e., it self-pollinates within the confines of these petals and never requires a visit from an external pollinator.
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