Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature :

No relation to : Love-lies-Bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus) [a plant belonging to the differing Pigweed Family, Amaranthaceae nor with Blood-drop Emlets (Mimulus luteus), a Monkeyflower nor with Bloody Crane's-bill (Geranium sanguineum), a member of the Geranium Family.

The Genus Dicentra used to belong to the Fumariaceae (Fumitory) Family but has since been re-assigned to the Papaveraceae (Poppy Family). Also, the common name 'Bleeding Heart' now refers to two very similar plants, one in the Dicentra genus (which contains two plants and a hybrid) and the other in the Lamprocapnos genus (which contains only one plant). It is expected that Taxonomists will rationalise the genus name for both of these plants to either one or the other (Lamprocapnos or Dicentra)

There is more than one Cultivar assigned the designation 'Bleeding Heart'. The one shown here is Dicentra spectabilis (with both basal leaves and leaves on stems), the other being Dicentra formosa which is of similar shape, but with only basal leaves, lacking leaves on stems. To avoid confusion, your Author has re-named the Bleeding Heart on this page as 'Asian Bleeding-Heart', one of its common names. There are also various other cultivars including a totally white version of Dicentra spectabilis (variation alba).

In the U.K. it is more likely to be found growing in a garden than growing wild beside a stream.

Contact with the plant by the skin can cause an allergic skin reaction with sensitive individuals.

OPIOID ALKALOIDS [Morphine for comparison only, Asian Bleeding-Heart contains none]. Asian Bleeding-Heart is poisonous, containing the isoquinoline alkaloids Protopine, Sanguinarine, Chelerythrine as well as apomorphine and ProtoBerberine alkaloids. Ingestion of the plant is dangerous; with sedative, spasmolytic and narcotic properties, which can lead to dizziness, gastro-intestinal, kidney disturbances and heart arrhythmia. Apomorphine has many chemical differences from Morphine, but is so named because it is the product of boiling morphine in concentrated acid, hardly a natural occurrence. Before Viagra came upon the scene, it was once used for erectile dysfunction. It is used to treat Parkinsons disease and in treating heroin addiction. An unstable colourless liquid itself, decomposing in 24 hours, it stains green on contact. Asian Bleeding-Heart does not contain Heroin, which is just shown here to illustrate the similarity between itself and that of Morphine. Two acetyl groups have replaced the two hydroxyl radicals, and the compound is zwitterionic, having a positive charge on the now tetra-valent nitrogen atom. Heroin does not, as far as is known, occur naturally; it is entirely synthetic. Needless to say, it is deadly poisonous. This plant does not appear in the large heavy book commonly referred to as 'Stace 3' by Clive Stace but it does appear in the BSBI database.