About Dicentra pauciflora S.Watson
Dicentra pauciflora S.Watson is a species of flowering plant in the genus Dicentra, the same genus that includes all bleeding-hearts. Its common names are shorthorn steer's head and few-flowered bleeding-heart. This perennial wildflower is native to the U.S. states of Oregon and California, where it grows at high elevations in the mountains in gravelly soils. It is a short bleeding-heart, reaching a maximum height of around 10 centimeters. It grows from a rhizome located under the soil, which produces several erect petioles; each petiole holds a leaf divided into leaflets, and each of these leaflets is further divided into smooth, fingerlike lobes. The plant also grows a thin stem that is topped by an inflorescence holding one to three nodding flowers. Each flower ranges in color from pink or purple to white. It has two curving outer petals bent back against the rest of the flower, while the inner petals extend straight outward. The fruit it produces is a capsule just over one centimeter long. Its specific epithet, pauciflora, comes from the Latin term meaning 'few flowered'.
