Lamprocapnos spectabilis (bleeding heart, "Kemanso")

Japanese name: ケマンソウ （華鬘草）
Scientific name: Lamprocapnos spectabilis

[Overview]
A perennial 40–60 cm tall.
It has a thick rhizome underground.
The whole plant is hairless and tinged with a powdery white.
The leaves are opposite, 2–3 times ternately pinnately compound, with the lobes divided further.
They have long leaf stalks.
A raceme is borne at the tip of a long, arching flower stem that extends sideways from the stem tip or from upper leaf axils, bearing 7–15 drooping flowers.
The flowers have 4 petals; the 2 outer petals are pink, boat-shaped and recurved at the tip, while the 2 inner petals are white with yellow and reddish-purple markings and are fused, making the whole flower heart-shaped.
In summer the aboveground parts die back and the plant goes dormant.
The fruit is an oblong capsule.

[Uses]
It is poisonous, but the rhizome is used medicinally.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division or by shoot cuttings.
It prefers partial shade and fertile, well-drained soil that is moderately moist.
Whether in the ground or in a pot, water when the soil surface dries.
It is weak against excess moisture in winter and dryness in summer.
Apply slow-release fertilizer as a base fertilizer, and it is also good to give diluted liquid fertilizer about once a week in spring and autumn.
Pests and diseases include aphids and cutworms.

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