岩黄连 yan huang lian

Corydalis thalictrifolia Franchet, J. Bot. (Morot) 8: 283. 1894, not W. Jameson ex Regel (1861).

Herbs, perennial, pale green, 30-40 cm tall, with large taproot and 1- to many-headed rootstock. Stems simple or branched. Basal leaves 10-15 cm, long petiolate; blade ca. equal to petiole, broadly ovate, pinnate with usually 2 pairs of stalked leaflets; leaflets orbicular to ovate, 2-4 × 2-3 cm, unequally 2- or 3-divided or margin with broad rounded teeth. Raceme 7-18 cm, many flowered, at first dense, then lax; bracts ovate to lanceolate, entire, lower ca. 15 × 10 mm; upper smaller, attenuate, longer than pedicels. Pedicel 3-5 mm. Flowers yellow to golden yellow. Sepals orbicular, 0.5-2 mm, entire. Outer petals rather broad and acuminate at apex, with a high short crest abruptly terminating ca. 2 mm from apex; upper petal 23-26 mm; spur ca. 7 mm, obtuse; nectary extended through ca. 1/2 of spur; lower petal straight, 18-22 mm; inner petals 14-18 mm, with rounded dorsal crest extending shortly beyond apex. Stigma arms forward-arcuate, each with 2 indistinct papillae at apex. Capsule reflexed, linear, ca. 25 × 1.5 mm. Seeds in 1 row. Fl. and fr. May-Jul.

● Rock crevices; 600-1400(-3900?) m. Chongqing (Chengkou), Guangxi (Debao, Fengshan, Jingxi), Guizhou (Dushan, Weng’an, Zunyi), Hubei (Yichang), Shaanxi (Mianxian), Sichuan, SE Yunnan (Xichou), Zhejiang (Ningbo).

Habitually, Corydalis saxicola differs from the other species in this section in its more upright and more lax growth and its larger, less divided, less glaucous leaves with broad leaflets.

This species is an important herb in traditional Chinese medicine.