Dutchman's Breeches

The Latin name is Dicentra cucullaria. The Dicentra familiy includes Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia) and Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis). Neither of these wildflowers are present in my area, but if you have seen them, you will notice the similarity in the shape of their leaves and flowers.

The common name of Dutchman's breeches is obvious with a brief study of the flowers. They do resemble a row of knickers hanging upside down on a line to dry.

The flowers of Dutchman’ s Breeches are a gentle white with a bit of pale yellow near what would be the waist of the pantaloons or breeches.

Dutchman’s Breeches start blooming in mid March here in northern Arkansas. This coincides with the flowering of Bloodroot and Rue Anenome, and just precedes Trout Lillies and Trilliums.

A spring wildflower with similarly dissected foliage is Pale Corydalis (Corydalis flavula). Before flowering, their leaves can be easily mistaken one for the other. The leaves of Dutchman's breeches have a blue-green tone, whereas the early leaves of Pale corydalis tend to have a yellow-green tone, later transitioning to a blue-green. Also, Dutchman's breeches dissected leaves are densely packed. Pale Corydalis leaves are on long stalks that spread out and may reach up and wave in the breeze.

Once in flower, these two plants are easily differentiated as their blooms are quite different. Pale corydalis has tiny, soft yellow flowers. It’s bloom time overlaps Dutchman’s Breeches, but peaks later.

Dicentra cucullaria is a spring ephemeral. After it blooms and develops seed pods, the leaves turn yellow and wither.

Dutchman's breeches are one of the true spring ephemeral wildflowers. Spring ephemerals are perennials that emerge in early spring before the forest canopy closes. They complete their 'above ground' life cycle within a few short weeks in spring. This is no small feat! In a very short period of time, they sprout, flower and (hopefully) get pollinated so they can develop and drop seeds before going back underground. In fall and winter, they use the nutrients they obtained in spring to grow their roots and develop buds for spring growth.

It makes sense that spring ephemerals tend to be small plants and Dutchman's breeches is no exception. At maturity, its only about 4- 8 inches in height. The compound leaves are in 3 primary leaflets, which are divided once more into 3 secondary leaflets. The leaves are sometimes described as gray-green, although I often see them as slightly blue-green. Either way, they are beautiful, deeply dissected leaves.

Very soon after the leaves arise, a stem with small buds of pale white to slightly pink appear.

As the flowers mature, they whiten, although occasionally still have a pinkish tint. The way the flowers dangle from the stem, one after the other, conjures the vision of a clothesline with pants hung out to dry. The stem often bends gracefully with their weight. Up to 14 flowers may be seen along the stem, but usually less. A short yellow to beige stalk attaches each flower along the stem.

The flowers are formed of 2 white outer petals and 2 pale yellow inner petals. The two outer petals form curved nectar spurs.

I adore seeing the seed pods hanging from the stem. Initially they are slender and as the seeds ripen inside the pod, they become fat and lumpy.

Once the seed pods ripen and release their seed, the leaves begin to yellow, and eventually wither away.

Plants are usually vegetative in their first year or two, reliably blooming in their third year.

As one can imagine, pollination of Dicentra cucullaria is a challenging feat. It takes an insect that is strong enough to hang upside down and push through the inner and outer petals of the flower. This would be a Bumblebee! In fact, the flower seems to have adapted specifically for Bumblebees. Field observation has shown that pollination of Dicentra cucullaria is performed almost exclusively by Queen Bombus bimaculatus bumblebees. These bees emerge from hibernation in sync with the flowering of Dutchman's breeches. They have tongues long enough to reach the nectar inside the flower and are strong enough to push their head through the tiny opening at the bottom of the flower in order to reach the nectar spurs. In so doing, they get pollen coated on their head and thorax which is transferred to the next flower they visit, pollinating it.

Other bees and insects, not as strong as Bombus bimaculatus, will chew holes in the nectar spurs to reach the nectar and, of course, this doesn't result in pollination.

Occasionally other insects may be seen visiting the plant. Below is an Oak Staghorn beetle. These beetles do occasionally pollinate flowers but are not known to pollinate Dutchman's Breeches.

Dicentra cucullaria is usually found in moist woods at the base of slopes. Here in northern Arkansas, I’ve noticed them most often on north and west facing slope. I’m not sure if that is common elsewhere. Their habitat is often rocky, mossy and filled with other woodland spring wildflowers. Dutchman’s Breeches seem to to grow in loose colonies.

Dutchman's breeches are native north to south, from South Dakota through the Eastern United States. It's also found in three states in the Northwest- Washington, Oregon and Idaho. These three states show no Status Rank.

Natureserve lists it as Critically Imperiled in 3 states (North Dakota, Mississippi and South Carolina). It has Imperiled status in Oklahoma and Alabama and Vulnerable status in Georgia. Three states list it as Apparently Secure - Kansas, New Jersey, and North Carolina and it's listed as Secure in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, Virginia and West Virginia. It has No Status Rank in Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

All members of the Dicentra family are poisonous and can cause skin rashes. Cattle can suffer convulsions or death if they consume too many leaves.

Like Bloodroot, the seeds of Dutchman's Breeches are sought after by ants for the protein-rich elaiosome. This is a beneficial relationship since the ants carry the seed to their nests, consume the elaiosome and leave the seed to grow into a new plant away from the mother plant.