黑顶黄堇 hei ding huang jin

Corydalis nigroapiculata var. erosipetala C. Y. Wu & H. Chuang; C. rockiana C. Y. Wu, Z. Y. Su & Lidén; C. variicolor C. Y. Wu.

Herbs, perennial, 10-30 cm above soil, glabrous; stems and petioles of radical leaves attenuate to filiform underground base. Storage roots fascicled, oblong, attenuate toward base, 4-10 cm × 2-4 mm. Stems few to several, branched, with 2-4 leaves above. Radical leaves: petiole 4-13 cm; blade glaucous abaxially, green or glaucous adaxially, triangular-ovate, 2-7 × 2-5 cm, twice to 3 × ternate to sub-bipinnate; leaflets stalked; ultimate leaflets entire to coarsely dentate or deeply divided into obovate to narrowly oblong, obtuse to acute lobes. Cauline leaves nearly sessile, biternatisect to bipinnatifid or often more irregularly cut into very unequal lobes; ultimate lobes lanceolate to oblong, obtuse to acute; upper leaves small and similar to lowermost bracts. Racemes very dense, 15-40(-60)-flowered, 2-10 cm, at fruiting much elongating to 6-18 cm, simple or with 1 or 2 branches at base; lower bracts 5-14 mm, biternatifid, middle and upper bracts pinnatifid to flabellate-divided, uppermost ones narrower, often almost entire. Pedicel erect-spreading, straight, 8-15 mm, elongating to 13-25 mm in fruit. Sepals 0.2-1 mm. Corolla white to creamy white; dorsal crest of inner petals with contrasting blue apex; outer petals broadly obtuse, clearly mucronate, margin usually ± undulate-dentate, dorsal crest 2-3 mm wide, obtuse, short; upper petal 16-20 mm; spur distinctly downcurved at apex, cylindric, 6-9 mm; nectary extended through 2/5-1/2 of spur; lower petal 10-11 mm with cuneate claw expanded into rounded clearly mucronate ± dentate limb; inner petals 8-11 mm. Stigma square; marginal papillae: median 2 distinct, lateral wide and indistinct; geminate papillae lateral (submarginal) and on well-developed basal lobes. Capsule pendent from erect-spreading pedicel, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, 12-15 × ca. 2 mm, 7-13-seeded; style 2-2.5 mm. Seed ca. 1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

● Mountain slopes, forests, alpine meadows, alpine scree, wet places; 3500-4600 m. Qinghai, NW Sichuan (Dêgê), E Xizang.

Low-growing broadly crested plants from Qinghai Hu, Qinghai, have been segregated as Corydalis rockiana but are connected by intermediates.