大海黄堇 da hai huang jin

Corydalis caespitosa C. Y. Wu; C. feddei H. Léveillé ex Fedde.

Herbs, perennial, 20-30 cm tall, glabrous or sparsely papillose-pubescent at base; stems and petioles of radical leaves attenuate to filiform underground base. Storage roots densely fascicled, spindle-shaped, 10-25 × 2-5 mm, shortly and indistinctly stalked. Stems 1 to several, erect, simple, with 1-3 leaves in upper 1/2. Radical leaves few; petiole 3-6 cm; blade small, biternate; segments linear to linear-lanceolate. Cauline leaves: petiole 0.3-2 cm; blade 3-6 × 4-9 cm, pinnate with 2 or 3 pairs of linear to narrowly lanceolate pinnae 2-4(-5) × 0.2-0.5 cm; leaflets shortly stalked to sessile, lanceolate, 3-5(-8) cm × 3-10 mm, entire, abaxially with raised parallel veins; uppermost leaf often only ternately divided. Raceme 4-6 cm, at fruiting prolonged to 10 cm, 8-16(-20?)-flowered; bracts with short 1-3 mm petiole, ovate-lanceolate, 8-20 × 2-5 mm, entire, acuminate, in fruit sharply reflexed. Pedicel 5-9 mm, in fruit recurved and 8-13 mm. Sepals ca. 0.2 × 1 mm, dentate. Corolla yellow; upper petal 18-26 mm, with expanded margin, irregularly undulate, apex acuminate, abaxial crest ca. 1.5 mm, attenuate in both directions, hardly overtopping apex, narrowly decurrent on spur, sometimes almost to tip; spur slightly downcurved, 11-15 mm, tapering; nectary ca. 1/3 as long as spur; lower petal 9-10 mm, limb rhombic-acuminate, with dorsal crest, central part contracted, claw broadly and conspicuously saccate, sometimes with a minute peglike extension at very base; inner petals 8-9 mm. Stigma square; median 2 apical papillae distinct, closely set, lateral marginal papillae broad, indistinct; geminate papillae submarginal and on pronounced basal lobes. Capsule narrowly obovoid, 10-12 × ca. 3 mm, 8-12-seeded; style ca. 3 mm. Seeds in 2 rows, ca. 1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

● Mountain summits, among Rhododendron shrubs, grassy slopes; 3200-4100 m. S Sichuan (Leibo, Meigu, Xide), NE Yunnan (Huize, Qiaojia).