Dicentra cucullaria (L.) Bernh.

Fumitory (Fumariaceae)

Woodland

Spring

Identified by the white or pinkish flowers, tipped with cream, dangling from racemes standing above the leaves, Similar to Squirrel Corn, Dicentra canadensis, the difference being in the below ground bulblets and the length of petal spurs, which are longer in Dicentra cucullaria. Both petals are spurred. The spurs extend backward, forming the legs of the breeches, hence the common name. Leaves are basal, yellow-green and pinnately divided several times, on long stalks. The flower stalks are erect and 4 to 12" high. The underground rhizomes sport many tear-shaped bulblets. Eloise Butler's notes on the plant are given below.

Above: A flower group approaching the end of bloom.

Notes: Eloise Butler's records show that she obtained plants of this species for the Garden on May 25, 1907 from the "govt' reservation" at Minnehaha (presumably the area near Fort Snelling and the Bureau of Mines.) and then again in 1908 from the same location. More were planted in 1910, 1912. Martha Crone planted a number of specimens in 1934, 1935 and 1936. The plant was on Martha Crone's 1951 inventory of plants in the Garden at that time and has presumably been here ever since. Native to most of Minnesota except the NW and Canadian border area. The plant produces several alkaloids which can be harmful in ingested and it can cause dermatitis in sensitive people.

Eloise Butler wrote of this plant: "Everyone is familiar with the pretty pale pink or yellowish flowers arranged along a slender stalk. The divergent nectaries of the flower have given rise to the ludicrous common name. The single pale green leaf, finely divided into many segments, adds to the delicate beauty of the plant. On Big Island, Lake Minnetonka, protected from marauders by an un-climbable barbed wire fence, grows another member of the same genus, the squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis), similar to Dutchman’s breeches except that the flowers are usually white and shaped like those of another relative, the bleeding heart of the gardens. The squirrel corn is developed from subterranean tubers, round and yellow like grains of Indian corn." (Published in the Sunday Minneapolis Tribune May 7, 1911.)