DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES            WHITE

Dicentra cucullaria                      April-May

Fumitory Family

Flower:  0.5-1” wide

Plant:  4-6” high

    Suspended from a 5-9” long curving stem are 4-8 waxy, white flowers with yellow tips, drooping in a row and looking like pantaloons hanging upside down from a clothesline.  Basal leaves, 3-6” long, feathery, long-stalked, deeply cut and fern-like, are grayish-green on top and paler underneath.

 

    This plant is found in rich woods and on rocky ledges.  Squirrel Corn (D. canadensis), a similar plant, can often be found nearby but can be recognized by the heart-shaped flower.

 

   

All material Copyright Anne McGrath, 1981,2000

All rights reserved.

Site design by Barbara Jo McGrath, 2008