Dicentra cucullaria

Native

Moist. Deciduous woods.

April to May

White

4″ to 12″

This is a 4″ to 12″ tall, erect, perennial forb with a short rhizome that is covered with pink to white, teardrop-shaped bulblets. Sometimes 1 but usually 2 leaves and a flowering stalk arise from each bulblet.

There is no central stem.

The leaves are all basal. They are 4″ to 14″ long, but usually 5½″ to 6⅓″ long, 1½″ to 7″ wide, but usually 2⅓″ to 5½″ wide. They are on 2″ to 9½″ long, but usually 3″ to 6¼″ long, slender, often brown stalks. The leaves are divided into 3 primary leaflets. Each leaflet is again divided into 3 secondary leaflets. These secondary leaflets may be again divided into 3 tertiary leaflets. The ultimate leaflets (secondary or, if any, tertiary), are pinnately cleft into linear or narrowly oblong lobes, and end in a minute, abrupt tip. The margins are untoothed. The upper leaf surface is somewhat yellowish green, hairless, not glaucous, and rough to the touch. The underside is silvery green, hairless, and covered with a whitish, waxy coating (glaucous).

The inflorescence is a long, unbranched cluster of 3 to 14 flowers at the end of a flowering stalk (scape). The scape is slender, hairless, and leafless. It is 4″ to 12″ long, arches at the tip, and extends above the leaves.

The flowers are about ½″ long, ¾″ wide, and shaped like a Dutchman’s breeches, giving this plant its common name. They flowers hang downward on hairless flower stalks that are from a little over 1 ⁄16″ to ½″ long. There are 4 petals, the 2 inner petals white with pale yellow or cream-colored tips, the 2 outer petals white. The outer petals are pouch-like and have 2 ⁄5″ to 3 ⁄5″ long, widely diverging, nectar spurs with narrowly rounded tips. The inner petals are much narrower, are united at the tips, and have small wings that curl upward. There is no floral scent.

The fruit is a spindle-shaped capsule that tapers to a point at both ends. The capsules are ¼″ to ⅔″ long, but usually ⅓″ to ½″ long, and ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ wide. They contain several seeds.

Slender corydalis (Corydalis micrantha ssp. micrantha) flowers are yellow and have a single nectar spur.

Squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis) bulblets are fewer, twice as big, yellow, and are round or shaped like a corn kernel. There is usually 1 leaf per scape. The upper leaf surface is bluish green, glaucous, and smooth to the touch. The nectar spurs are shorter and more rounded. The flowers are fragrant. In Minnesota it is found only in the southeast.

Throughout except far northwest