Dicentra peregrina

Dicentra peregrina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Fumariaceae
Genus:	Dicentra
Species:	D. peregrina
Binomial name
Dicentra peregrina (Rudolph) Makino

Dicentra peregrina (Japanese コマクサ komakusa) is a herbaceous perennial growing from a rhizome, native to Japan, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Island, and northeastern Siberia (including Kamchatka).

Etymology

The species name peregrina is Latin for "immigrant", possibly because the species is the only one of its genus outside of North America.

In Japanese, the plant (kusa)^[1] is named for the buds, which look like the head of a horse (koma).^[2]

Description

Leaves are gray-green, glaucous, and deeply cut, with linear lobes.

Flowers have four rose-purple, pink, cream, pale yellow, or white petals and two tiny sepals. Outer petals are pouched at the base and strongly bent back at the ends. Inner petals are long and protruding, connected at the end.

Cultivars

There are several hybrid cultivars involving Dicentra eximia, Dicentra formosa, and Dicentra nevadensis.

• Dicentra 'Candy Hearts' (D. eximia × D. peregrina)
  rose-pink flowers
• Dicentra 'Gothenburg' (D. formosa subsp. oregana × D. peregrina f. alba) — light pink flowers
• Dicentra 'Ivory Hearts' (D. eximia × D. peregrina)
  white flowers
• Dicentra 'King of Hearts' — D. peregrina × (D. formosa subsp. oregana × D. eximia)
  pink flowers
• Dicentra 'Luxuriant' (D. eximia × D. peregrina)
  cherry-red flowers
• Dicentra 'Tsuneshigo Rokujo' (D. nevadensis × D. peregrina)
  pink flowers

Gallery

• 

  habitat, Mount Yari, Hida Mountains

• 

  white form on Mount Tsubakuro

• 

  hybrid (note wider-lobed leaves)

References

1. ^ くさ kusa in Japanese Kanji dictionary
2. ^ コマクサ komakusa on Japanese Wikipedia, translated by Google

• Bleeding hearts, Corydalis, and their relatives. Mark Tebbitt, Magnus Lidén, and Henrik Zetterlund. Timber Press. 2008. — Google Books

External links

• Pacific Bulb Society
• Flavon's wild herb and alpine plants: gallery