Dicentra, known as bleeding-hearts, is a genus of eight species of herbaceous plants with oddly shaped flowers and finely divided leaves, native to eastern Asia and North America.
The Papaveraceae are an economically important family of about 42 genera and approximately 775 known species of flowering plants in the order Ranunculales, informally known as the poppy family. The family is cosmopolitan, occurring in temperate and subtropical climates, but almost unknown in the tropics. Most are herbaceous plants, but a few are shrubs and small trees. The family currently includes two groups that have been considered to be separate families: Fumariaceae and Pteridophyllaceae.
Seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their propagules, including both abiotic vectors such as the wind and living (biotic) vectors like birds. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the dispersal mechanism and this has important implications for the demographic and genetic structure of plant populations, as well as migration patterns and species interactions. There are five main modes of seed dispersal: gravity, wind, ballistic, water, and by animals. Some plants are serotinous and only disperse their seeds in response to an environmental stimulus. Dispersal involves the letting go or detachment of a diaspore from the main parent plant.
Lamprocapnos spectabilis, bleeding heart or Asian bleeding-heart, is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae, native to Siberia, northern China, Korea and Japan. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus Lamprocapnos, but is still widely referenced under its old name Dicentra spectabilis. It is valued in gardens and in floristry for its heart-shaped pink and white flowers, borne in spring.
Myrmecochory is seed dispersal by ants, an ecologically significant ant-plant interaction with worldwide distribution. Most myrmecochorous plants produce seeds with elaiosomes, a term encompassing various external appendages or "food bodies" rich in lipids, amino acids, or other nutrients that are attractive to ants. The seed with its attached elaiosome is collectively known as a diaspore. Seed dispersal by ants is typically accomplished when foraging workers carry diaspores back to the ant colony, after which the elaiosome is removed or fed directly to ant larvae. Once the elaiosome is consumed, the seed is usually discarded in underground middens or ejected from the nest. Although diaspores are seldom distributed far from the parent plant, myrmecochores also benefit from this predominantly mutualistic interaction through dispersal to favourable locations for germination, as well as escape from seed predation.
Elaiosomes are fleshy structures that are attached to the seeds of many plant species. The elaiosome is rich in lipids and proteins, and may be variously shaped. Many plants have elaiosomes that attract ants, which take the seed to their nest and feed the elaiosome to their larvae. After the larvae have consumed the elaiosome, the ants take the seed to their waste disposal area, which is rich in nutrients from the ant frass and dead bodies, where the seeds germinate. This type of seed dispersal is termed myrmecochory from the Greek "ant" (myrmex) and "circular dance" (khoreíā). This type of symbiotic relationship appears to be mutualistic, more specifically dispersive mutualism according to Ricklefs, R.E. (2001), as the plant benefits because its seeds are dispersed to favorable germination sites, and also because it is planted by the ants.
Dicentra cucullaria, or Dutchman's breeches, is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to rich woods of eastern North America, with a disjunct population in the Columbia Basin.
Dicentra formosa is a flowering plant with fern-like leaves and an inflorescence of drooping pink, purple, yellow or cream flowers native to the Pacific Coast of North America.
Fumaria officinalis, the common fumitory, drug fumitory or earth smoke, is a herbaceous annual flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. It is the most common species of the genus Fumaria in Western and Central Europe.
Pseudofumaria lutea, the yellow corydalis or rock fumewort, is a short-lived perennial plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. It is native to the southern foothills of the south-western and central Alps of Italy and Switzerland, but widely introduced elsewhere.
Corydalis solida, the fumewort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to moist, shady habitats in northern Europe and Asia. Growing to 25 cm (10 in), it is a spring ephemeral, with foliage that appears in spring and dies down to its tuberous rootstock in summer. It is cultivated for its deeply divided, ferny leaves and narrow, long-spurred flowers which appear in spring. The flowers show color variation, and may be mauve, purple, red, or white.
Dicentra eximia is a flowering plant with fernlike leaves and oddly shaped flowers native to the Appalachian Mountains. It is similar to the Pacific bleeding-heart, which grows on the Pacific Coast.
Ehrendorferia ochroleuca, commonly known as white eardrops or yellow bleeding-heart, is a biennial or perennial, native to gravelly areas in the chaparral and woodlands of California and in Baja California.
Sarcocapnos is a genus of at least 6 species of somewhat fleshy, cushion-forming annual to perennial plants, native to cliffs in the French Pyrenees, Spain, and north Africa.
Dicentra peregrina is a herbaceous perennial growing from a rhizome, native to mountains in Japan and nearby areas of East Asia.
Ceratocapnos claviculata, the climbing corydalis, is a weak scrambling plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is endemic to Europe, growing mostly near the Atlantic fringe.
Corydalis micrantha is a plant which goes by many common names including smallflower fumewort, southern corydalis, and golden corydalis. It belongs to the family Papaveraceae and is native to the United States.
Magnus Lidén is a Swedish systematic botanist.
Corydalis incisa, incised fumewort, is an annual or biennial herbaceous species of plant in the poppy family. It is also known as purple keman or murasa-kike-man. Some authorities report it in the family Fumariaceae. The wildflower is native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China, found in forests, clearings, and irrigation channels.
Corydalis cava is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to moist, shady, woodland habitats throughout most of mainland Europe, although commonest in central and southeast Europe. Its range extends from Spain in the west to Ukraine, Belarus and the Caucasus in the east and as far north as Sweden. It is absent from Iceland, the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Russia and Greece.
