All flowers
Lyre Flower Wikimedia Commons
Papaveraceae

Lyre Flower

Lamprocapnos spectabilis

Unconditional love, compassion, and heartfelt emotion.

Family
Papaveraceae
Genus
Lamprocapnos
Native to
eastern Asia, China, Korea, Japan
Bloom season
Spring, Early Summer
Type
herbaceous perennial
Height
60–90 cm
Sunlight
part shade
Soil
moist, humus-rich, well-drained
Water
medium
Hardiness
3–9
Lifespan
perennial; long-lived

Did you know

  • Also known as bleeding heart, each flower resembles a heart with a drop falling from it.
  • The plant was reclassified from Dicentra to Lamprocapnos in 2011 based on molecular evidence.
  • Robert Fortune first brought it to England from the island of Chusan in 1846, causing a garden sensation.
  • If you pull the outer petals apart, the inner structure looks like a lady in a bathtub — a classic parlor trick.
  • The entire plant goes dormant and disappears by midsummer, earning the Japanese name 'sleeping beauty'.

Color meanings

Pink

romantic love and tenderness

White

pure and unconditional love

Red

deep passionate love

Uses

  • shade gardens
  • cottage gardens
  • woodland borders
  • cut flowers
  • container planting