| Dicentra peregrina | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: | Fumariaceae |
| Genus: | Dicentra |
| Species: | D. peregrina |
| Binomial name | |
| Dicentra peregrina (Rudolph) Makino |
|
Dicentra peregrina (Japanese コマクサ komakusa) is a herbaceous perennial growing from a rhizome, native to Japan, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Island, and northeastern Siberia (including Kamchatka).
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The species name peregrina is Latin for "immigrant", possibly because the species is the only one of its genus outside of North America.
In Japanese, the plant (kusa)[1] is named for the buds, which look like the head of a horse (koma).[2]
Leaves 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.
There are several hybrid cultivars, cultivated as ornamental plants, involving Dicentra eximia, Dicentra formosa, and Dicentra nevadensis.