Bleeding Heart Flower Diagram – Labeled, Taken Apart

All 13 parts on the diagram

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The stem 5

Flower Heart-shaped, with a small drop hanging under it.
Flower stem (raceme) An arching stem with the flowers in a row along it.
Flower stalk (pedicel) Each flower hangs on a short stalk of its own.
Bud A flower not yet open; the youngest are nearest the tip.
Leaf A compound leaf, divided into lobed leaflets.

One flower taken apart 8

Outer petal The two outer petals make the heart. Their tips turn back.
Pouch (spur) A rounded sac at the base of each outer petal.
Inner petal The two inner petals make the drop under the heart.
Sepal A flower has two, small and scale-like.
Stamens Six stamens, joined in two bundles of three.
Ovary The seeds form here; it ripens into a narrow capsule.
Style A slender stalk between the ovary and the stigma.
Stigma The two-lobed tip that receives pollen.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-01 and kept only where two of these use it. (1) Britton and Brown, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, 2nd ed. 1913, vol. 2, the fumewort family and Bicuculla, the old name of Dicentra (public domain), https://archive.org/details/illustratedflora02brit : racemose flowers on pedicels; sepals 2, small, scale-like; petals 4 in 2 pairs, the 2 outer spurred or saccate at the base and spreading at the tip, the 2 inner narrower, clawed, united over the stigma, crested on the back; stamens 6 in 2 sets of 3; ovary 1-celled, style slender, stigma 2-lobed; capsule; dissected leaves. (2) Gray's New Manual of Botany, 7th ed. 1908, the fumitory family and Dicentra (public domain), https://archive.org/details/graysnewmanualo00gray : the same flower plan in other words (sepals 2, small and scale-like; the 4 petals in two pairs; stamens in two sets of 3; racemose nodding flowers; compound dissected leaves). (3) North Carolina State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Lamprocapnos spectabilis, https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lamprocapnos-spectabilis/ : arching branches tipped with heart-shaped flowers, the inner petals showing below the outer heart-shaped petals, compound leaves with lobed leaflets, the fruit an oblong capsule. (4) Wikipedia, text only, Lamprocapnos and Dicentra, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprocapnos , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicentra : arching racemes of pendent flowers, 3-lobed compound leaves; the two inner petals seen when the two outer petals are pulled apart; two tiny sepals; outer petals with a spur or pouch at the base, curved back at the tip; stamens and pistil held between the inner petals. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The first drawing is the arching flower stem of a garden bleeding heart, with its hearts hanging in a row. The second takes one flower apart: its four petals lie at the left, and the rest stays on the stalk at the right.

Read the full guide

What makes the heart

The flower has four petals in two unlike pairs. The two outer petals make the heart: each has a rounded pouch at its base, and its tip turns back. The two inner petals are narrow. Their tips show below the heart as the drop.

What the petals hide

Pull the outer petals apart and the rest shows. Two small sepals sit where the stalk joins. Six stamens stand in two bundles of three. Between them is the pistil: a slim ovary, a slender style and a two-lobed stigma, held between the tips of the inner petals.

With a real flower, pull the two outer petals apart gently and the inner pair appears.
The quiz takes spur for pouch, raceme for flower stem and pedicel for flower stalk.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a bleeding heart flower?

Two small sepals, two outer petals that make the heart, each with a pouch at its base, two narrow inner petals that make the drop, six stamens in two bundles of three, and a pistil with an ovary, a style and a stigma.

What is the drop under a bleeding heart flower?

The tips of the two inner petals. They are narrow, and they stick out below the two outer petals. The stamens and the pistil are held between them.

How many petals does a bleeding heart have?

Four, in two pairs that do not look alike. The outer pair is large and makes the heart shape. The inner pair is narrow and makes the drop below it.

Is a bleeding heart a Dicentra?

The garden bleeding heart was long called Dicentra spectabilis and is still sold under that name. Botanists now place it alone in its own genus, as Lamprocapnos spectabilis. The wild bleeding hearts of North America remain in Dicentra.