The sweet little sprays of pinkish to purple flowers in the shape of hearts beg the sound of Awww to exit ones lips upon encountering a bleeding heart. The flowers are incredibly fragrant. The roots, or rather rhizomes have a strong bitter and slightly acrid flavor that are most commonly used for pain relieving effects. Medicinally, this one is classified as a narcotic analgesic. Otherwise, it is known as a mind altering sedative and pain numbing remedy.

The entire plant is a soft, juicy perennial that stems from these slender brittle rhizomes. It typically grows in loose, moist forest soil and can easily be dug with nothing but your hands. The rhizomes are succulent, new growth is bright pink, and resembles something slightly worm-shaped. Native peoples used this root to heal weakness and depletion from intestinal worms. This indicates that bleeding hearts have a rejuvenating and strengthening quality. It is interesting that the rhizomes are long, skinny, pinkish-white and worm-shaped. These visual indicators of medicinal properties are often noted as a Doctrine of Signatures in botanical structure.  

More interestingly, there is a history of this plant medicine being used to strengthen those with long standing syphilis. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted set of disease symptoms that stem from a spiraling worm-shaped bacteria called a spirochete (spy-row-keet). These spirochetes wiggle through the tissues of the body leading to a number of horrible symptoms including great fatigue, joint and skin pain, mental disorders and depression. The Borrelia bacteria in Lyme disease is a modern cousin to syphilis. Both of these diseases are referred to as "the great imitator," as they mimic so many other chronic illnesses and are both difficult to diagnose and to treat. I think of these types of bacteria, especially the spirochetes as "worms" also.