FUMARIACEAE 



FUMITORY FAMILY 



GOLDEN CORYDALIS 



Corydolis antra Willd. 



This very prett\- inhabitant of rocky woodlands is scattered 

 in far-separated localities throughout the state. It has traveled 

 far and irregularly and grows from Nova Scotia and Pennsyl- 

 vania to Minnesota and 

 Alaska, south to 

 Missouri and in the 

 Rocky mountains to 

 Arizona. This is our 

 commonest species and 

 yet because of its se- 

 cluded habitat is un- 

 known to most people 

 and commonly unob- 

 served by the profes- 

 sional botanist. 



The plant grows i 

 foot high from a fibrous 



root cluster, branches ^ifvv\7 \^ a \\ ^7/;Js. Ik'^ mXH/i 



diffusely and bears 

 numerous smooth, 

 much-divided leaves 

 suggestive of its cousin 

 the Dutchman 's 

 Breeches, page 121. 



The bright golden 

 yellow flowers, one-half to three-quarters of an inch long, are 

 borne in terminal and lateral racemes. They are very irregular 

 with 2 sepals and 4 closely attached petals, with i of the outer 

 petals long spurred at the base. Stamens are 6 in 2 sets of 3 

 opposite the outer petals. The single pistil becomes a long, 

 curved, very slender pod contracted regularly at intervals. The 

 black seeds are conically thickened discs, shiny and with minute 

 concentric ridges. The flowers bloom from the latter part of 

 May to August and the seeds are ripe in September. 



The Pale Corydalis, Corydalis sempervirens (L.) Pers., has pur- 

 plish or rose flowers which are yellow tipped, in panicled racemes 

 on a stalk 4-24 inches high. Rocky bluffs are the best places to look 

 tor this plant. The spur of the corolla is short and rounded, and 

 the elongated pods are slender and erect. 



123 



