Entecyclopedia of Botanik: "Bleeding Heart Flower"

We have all heard of holy ghost orchid flowers. But have you heard about the cute and amazing Bleeding heart flowers? If not, don't worry. Today we are going to see this flower. Let's go!

Lamprocapnos spectabilis is a species of flowering plant in the Papaveraceae family which is the sole species in the monotypic genus Lamprocapnos. It is also called "bleeding heart' or "Asian bleeding-heart" due to its flower resembles a conventional heart shape.

Synonyms: Dicentra spectabilis

Family: Papaveraceae

Binomial name: Lamprocapnos spectabilis (L.) Fukuhara

Geographical occurrence:
It is an endemic plant native to Siberia, Korea, Japan and Northern China.

Plant morphology:

It is a herbaceous perennial plant. It has 3 lobed compound leaves on fleshy green to pink stems. It has racemes of pink heart-shaped flowers that appear to bleed a drop of white blood. Flowers (bleeding heart) are growing to 120 cm tall and 45 cm in wide. The outer petals are bright fuchsia- pink, while the inner ones are white. It blooms from April to May.

Chemical constituents:

Lamprocapnos spectabilis is closely related to poppies and share many of the chemical constituents associated with the poppy family. Several studies reported that alkaloids found in Lamprocapnos spectabilis have anticancer, antidepressant and antiaging potential activity.

Uses:

Lamprocapnos spectabilis is widely used as an ornamental flower (floristry) for its heart-shaped pink and white flowers. Even though it has a history of ethnopharmaceutical use in Asian cultures.

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