"Dicentra scandens"
James Waddick (Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:47:24 PDT)

Dear PBS friends,
I debated sending this note to PBS, but found the offending
(?) pic on the wiki at
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

This looks like my plant, too.

I'd be hard pressed to include this among geophytic subjects,
but the PBS-ers grow a range of odd and interesting items.

This spring I have been growing seed from the NARGS seed
exchange labelled 'Dicentra scandens'. This is a climbing
yellow-flowered bleeding heart and an annual for me. Years ago I used
to grow both this species and the closely related D. macrocapnos
although I don't recall the differences at the moment.

Or so I thought.

I was recently at a new nursery that offered plants labelled
'Dicentra scandens' distinctly different and much nicer than any I
had ever grown. This lead to the "Flora of China" which states that
all the climbing yellow (mostly) flowered bleeding hearts are now in
the genus Dactylicapnos and that 10 of the 12 (!) species are native
to China. Here's the Flora of China key to their species:
http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/PDF/…

My D. scandens has pale yellow, triangular flowers on vines
up to 8 ft or so. As I recall the plant is an annual, but can self
sow and come back from seed. I usually save a few to start each
spring.

The new plant I saw had bright, clean yellow heart- shaped
flowers (like Dicentra macranthos - now Ichtyoselmis macrantha). And
the foliage was distinctly different- more coarse than my D.
scandens, but still very lacy.

So what is with all these climbing yellow bleeding hearts?
And does any one grow any species with orange flowers? Are any
reliably hardy in Zone 5/6? Can anyone put some more accurate names
on these things?

Appreciate the discussions. Jim W.

--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +