高雅紫堇 gao ya zi jin

Type: China. Xizang: Baxoi Xian, valley of Dü Chu, alt. 12,000 feet, light dry soil, very light pine forest, 4 Jul 1936, J. Hanbury Tracy 60 (holotype, BM).

Corydalis lividae affinis, sed ab ea bracteis pedicellisque longioribus, sepalis majoribus, floribus latioribus atque apicibus petalorum interiorum atroviolaceis differt.

Herbs, (perennial), ca. ?24 cm tall, glabrous. Rootstock and radical leaves unknown. Stem (possibly only upper part) with 2 leaves, simple. Cauline leaves subsessile; blade glaucous on both surfaces, less so above, oblong, 4-8 × 2-3 cm, pinnate, with 3 pairs of widely spaced pinnae; pinnae ovate, deeply cleft to pinnatifid into 3-5 obovate lobes (lowermost pinnae sometimes divided to midvein). Racemes 15-flowered, ca. 10 cm; lower 3 bracts distant, pinnate like upper leaf, 1.5-3.5 cm, middle and upper bracts entire, much smaller, rhombic-ovate, often shortly stalked, pointed, 3-6 × 1-4 mm. Lower pedicels 20-30 mm, upper pedicels 7-12 mm. Sepals purple, ca. 3 × 2 mm, rounded, distinctly acuminate, dentate. Corolla with broad profile, "pale magenta," inner petals dark tipped; upper petal broadly spreading, 20-22 mm, obtuse and shortly pointed; crest very narrow or absent; spur slightly downcurved apically, cylindric, 11-12 mm, very thick (ca. 4 mm), obtuse; nectary conspicuous, ca. 1/2 as long as spur; lower petal 13-14 mm, shallowly saccate near middle, contracted into short claw, limb broadly obtuse, shortly pointed; inner petals ca. 11 mm, dorsal crest small, not reaching apex. Stigma, fruit, and seeds unknown. Fl. Jul.

● Light dry soils in open Pinus forests; 3600-3700 m. E Xizang (Baxoi).

The specific epithet is derived from Latin regius ("of a king" or "regal"), appropriate for this stately plant.