独龙江紫堇 du long jiang zi jin

Herbs, perennial, 20-50 cm, glabrous. Taproot slender, 1-1.5 mm in diam.; rootstock short, apically with a few-flowered rosette. Stems decumbent, slender, at first with few branches. Cauline leaves several; middle petiole 3-7 cm, upward gradually shorter, base expanded into short rounded fleshy sheath with pale membranous margins; leaf axils (except those with "normal" branches) with bulbils that become almost black in plant press, eventually falling off or growing out to short shoots while still attached; blade glaucous on both surfaces, but more so adaxially, broadly triangular; lower blade 2-4 × 3-5 cm, biternate; primary pinnae shortly petiolulate; ultimate leaflets sessile, ± deeply divided into few broadly obovate obtuse mucronate lobes (uppermost leaves very small). Raceme 2-6-flowered, slightly elongating in fruit; bract suborbicular to broadly obovate, irregularly deeply or slightly divided, or uppermost one narrowly obovate and entire, 3-6 mm. Pedicel 4-6 mm, considerably elongating in fruit to 10-20 mm. Sepals whitish, orbicular, peltate, ca. 1 mm, margin deeply dentate. Petals pale purple. Outer petals shortly acuminate, dorsal crest short, narrow, slightly dentate, not quite reaching apex; upper petal 23-25 mm; spur straight, cylindric or slightly tapering from broad base to obtuse tip, ca. 12 mm; nectary ca. 3 mm; lower petal 13-14 mm, with narrow base widened in front 1/3 to rounded shortly acuminate limb; inner petals ca. 12 mm. Stigma with 6 distinct marginal papillae; geminate papillae lateral (submarginal) and on well-developed rounded basal lobes. Capsule narrowly oblong, 10-15 × 1.5-2 mm, 8-10-seeded. Seeds in 1 row, ca. 1.2 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Mar-Jul.

Channel sides on slopes, roadsides; 1500-1800 m. W Yunnan (Gongshan) [Myanmar (Haka)].

This is very similar to Corydalis leptocarpa but differs in having leaves smaller, axillary bulbils present, pedicels longer than bracts, nectary comparatively shorter, and fruit and seeds smaller.