White Bleeeding Heart or Ehrendorferia ochroleuca - This member of the Poppy family is a fire-follower and does not germinate without being exposed to smoke. The 2013 Springs Fire brought this
plant back from seeds stored in the soil. After a couple of years we are unlikely to see this plant until the next fire. [Note: Saw large quantities of these after the Woolsey Fire!]
The flowers on this perennial herb are white with a beautiful filling of red - it is the two inner petals which are
joined at the tip that have the red filling . All parts of the plant are toxic. The bright red color in the petal is a draw for Hummingbirds. This plant blooms well after the first flowers of Spring - May to
to June. Look for this in the canyon bottoms of Sycamore and Blue Canyon (Pt. Mugu State Park) all the way to the summit of Boney Mountain! I saw this plant in late June while hiking in Upper Sycamore Canyon of
Point Mugu State Park. Lastly, this plant is endemic to California - it grows nowhere else!
Our plant of the month grows leaves from the flower stalks as well as the base. In comparison, other Bleeding Heart flowers of the Genus Dicentra have leaves in a basal rosette with
flowers on leafless stalks. Basal rosette means the leaves grow in a circular arrangement from the base of the plant.
The leaves of this plant are pinnately divided 2-4 times - according to Wikipedia: pinnately refers to the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis.
Name Origin: This plant was named after Friedrich Ehrendorfer a 20th Century Austrian Botanist. Ochroleuca means yellowish-white. This used to be known as Dicentra Ehrendorferia but was
changed during a re-classification.
Bleeding Heart, Yellow or White - Originally featured: August 2014 Last modified: October 19 2019 14:48:30.
References:
Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains, by Milt McAuley Flowering Plants: The Santa Monica Mountains, Coastal and Chaparral Regions of Southern California, by Nancy Dale
