Dicentra peregrina


Dicentra peregrina is a herbaceous perennial growing from a rhizome, native to mountains in Japan and nearby areas of East Asia.

Etymology

The species name peregrina is Latin for "exotic, alien, foreign, strange, from foreign lands", possibly because the species is the only one of its genus outside of North America.
In Japanese, the plant is named for the buds, which look like the head of a horse.

Description

are gray-green, glaucous, and deeply cut, with linear lobes.
Flowers have four rose-purple, pink, cream, pale yellow, or white petals and two tiny sepals. Outer petals are pouched at the base and strongly bent back at the ends. Inner petals are long and protruding, connected at the end.

Ecology

Komakusa grows in Japan, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Island, and northeastern Siberia, including the Kamchatka Peninsula. It favors gravelly soil at high altitudes,, in alpine tundra.

Cultivars

There are several hybrid cultivars, cultivated as ornamental plants, involving Dicentra eximia, Dicentra formosa, and Dicentra nevadensis.
rose-pink flowers
white flowers
pink flowers
cherry-red flowers
pink flowers