A bleeding heart plant, Lamprocapnos spectabilis, arranged in a slender white bud vase is the subject of this albumen carte-de-visite, almost certainly from the botanical CDV series published by J.E. Tilton and Co. of 161 Washington Street, Boston, based on the identical mount format, plain reverse, and compositional approach shared with the companion water lily CDV in this sale. Bleeding heart was among the most fashionable Victorian parlor and garden plants of the 1860s, having been introduced to Western horticulture from Asia in 1846 and rapidly adopted as a prized specimen by American florists and home gardeners.

Three arching stems carry the characteristic pendant heart-shaped blooms in a row, each flower showing the distinctive outer rose-pink petals enclosing protruding white inner petals that give the plant its common name. The deeply lobed, ferny foliage fills the middle of the composition, it's dark tones contrasting sharply against the pale ground. The slender white ceramic bud vase at lower center is the only prop, its tapered conical base and narrow neck lending the composition an elegant simplicity.

The reverse is plain with no photographer's or publisher's imprint visible.