大金紫堇 da jin zi jin

Corydalis cristata Maximowicz var. pseudoflaccida Fedde; C. geocarpa Harry Smith ex Lidén; C. tuberipisiformis Z. Y. Su.

Herbs, perennial, glaucous. Tuber vertical, 3-10 × 0.5-1 cm, branched below, sometimes splitting with age; roots mainly at tips of tuber branches. Stems 1 or few from each tuber, branched and leafy throughout; underground parts of stems meandering, pale, soft, 5-40 cm; aboveground stems green to reddish, 5-10(-15) cm, often much branched, with 2-5 leaves; frequently forming a loose cushion. Leaves fleshy, long petiolate; blade glaucous abaxially, green or glaucous adaxially, orbicular to oblong in outline, 2-6 × 1-5 cm, ternate to pinnate with 1 or 2(or 3) pairs of leaflets, glabrous or papillose-scabrid along veins and margin (papillose margin sometimes distinctly purplish); terminal leaflet 1-3 × 1-3 cm, shortly petiolate, lateral ones usually smaller, sessile; leaflets entire or usually cut into obovate obtuse lobes. Raceme corymbose, 3-10-flowered, shortly stalked; bracts narrowly obovate with long cuneate base, 10-50 × 3-8 mm, entire or coarsely dentate apically, or ± deeply cut into subacute lobes. Pedicel 2-6 cm, somewhat fleshy, at fruiting arcuately recurved. Flowers bluish to reddish purple or white; inner petals pale. Sepals peltate, 1-2 mm, much dentate, rounded. Outer petals ± crested, limb with prominent lateral lobes; upper petal 15-20(-22) mm; spur almost straight or often strongly downcurved, cylindric, 6-13 mm; nectary ca. 2/3 as long as spur; inner petals 7-8 mm, with low crests. Stigma compressed, broadly rectangular, with 4 apical papillae and lateral and basal geminate papillae. Capsule often oblong, 5-10 × ca. 3 mm, 4-9-seeded; style ca. 3 mm. Seeds black, shiny, obscurely colliculate, ca. 2 mm, with lobed elaiosome clinging to seed. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

● Alpine scree, stone crevices; (3500-)3900-5000 m. N and W Sichuan, E Xizang.

This species is sometimes divided according to leaf division, flower size, and spur length, but the variation is reticulate.