Dutchman’s breeches

Dutchman’s breeches is a 4″ to 12″ tall, erect, perennial forb with a short rhizome that is covered with pink to white, teardrop-shaped bulblets. Sometimes 1 but usually 2 leaves and a flowering stalk arise from each bulblet.

There is no central stem.

The leaves are all basal. They are 4″ to 14″ long, but usually 5½″ to 6⅓″ long, 1½″ to 7″ wide, but usually 2⅓″ to 5½″ wide. They are on 2″ to 9½″ long, but usually 3″ to 6¼″ long, slender, often brown stalks. The leaves are divided into 3 primary leaflets (ternate). Each leaflet is again divided into 3 secondary leaflets (biternate). These secondary leaflets may be again divided into 3 tertiary leaflets (triternate). The ultimate leaflets (secondary or, if any, tertiary), are cleft into linear or narrowly oblong lobes (pinnatifid), and end in a minute, abrupt tip. The margins are untoothed. The upper leaf surface is somewhat yellowish green, hairless, not glaucous, and rough to the touch. The underside is silvery green, hairless, and covered with a whitish, waxy coating (glaucous).

The inflorescence is a long, unbranched cluster of 3 to 14 flowers at the end of a flowering stalk (scape). The scape is slender, hairless, and leafless. It is 4″ to 12″ long, arches at the tip, and extends above the leaves.

The flowers are about ½″ long, ¾″ wide, and shaped like a Dutchman’s breeches, giving this plant its common name. They flowers hang downward on hairless flower stalks that are from a little over 1 ⁄16″ to ½″ long. There are 4 petals, the 2 inner petals white with pale yellow or cream-colored tips, the 2 outer petals white. The outer petals are pouch-like and have 2 ⁄5″ to 3 ⁄5″ long, widely diverging, nectar spurs with narrowly rounded tips. The inner petals are much narrower, are united at the tips, and have small wings that curl upward. There is no floral scent.

The fruit is a spindle-shaped capsule that tapers to a point at both ends. The capsules are ¼″ to ⅔″ long, but usually ⅓″ to ½″ long, and ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ wide. They contain several seeds.

4″ to 12″

White

Slender corydalis (Corydalis micrantha ssp. micrantha) flowers are yellow and have a single nectar spur.

Squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis) bulblets are fewer, twice as big, yellow, and are round or shaped like a corn kernel. There is usually 1 leaf per scape. The upper leaf surface is bluish green, glaucous, and smooth to the touch. The nectar spurs are shorter and more rounded. The flowers are fragrant. In Minnesota it is found only in the southeast.

Moist. Deciduous woods.

April to May

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Native

Common

Tribe
In an analysis of the subfamily Fumarioideae (Lidén, 1986), the authors proposed two new tribes, Corydaleae and Fumarieae. They placed the genus Dicentra in Fumarieae. A more recent study (Peng et al., 2024) revised the tribal classification on the Poppy Family (Papaveraceae). The authors described seven new tribes. Dicentra was placed in the new tribe Dicentreae.

Plant

Plant

Plant

Inflorescence

Inflorescence

Flowers

Inflorescence

Flowers

Flowers

Leaves

Leaves

Leaves

Leaves

Dicentra cucullaria
Zi W

Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's Breetches)
Allen Chartier

Dutchman's Breeches( Dicentra Cucullaria)
wvoutdoorman

Bumblebee foraging on Dutchman's breeches, Delaware, Ohio, USA
Robert Klips

Virginia Bluebells & Dutchman's Breeches by the Potomac River
Robert Ferraro

Just a Blooming Moment, Dutchmans Breeches.wmv
PilcherPark

INDIANA SPRING WILDFLOWERS, PLANTS MID-LATE APRIL
Hoosier Sasquatch

Greg Watson
4/22/2025
Earth Day

Location: Beaver Creek Valley State Park

Location: Whitewater WMA, Main Branch Unit

Location: Racine Co., WI

Dicentra cucullaria, Dutchman's breeches, April 28, 2020, growing in a woodland, in Racine County, WI.

Location: Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Long Meadow Lake Unit

Dutchman’s breeches blooming along the Bluff Trail