Corydalis adunca var. humilis Maximowicz; C. adunca subsp. microsperma Lidén & Z. Y. Su; C. adunca subsp. scaphopetala (Fedde) C. Y. Wu & Z. Y. Su; C. albicaulis Franchet; C. odontostigma Fedde; C. scaphopetala Fedde.

Herbs, perennial (though often short-lived and often flowering first year), very glaucous. Caudex not strongly developed; basal leaf residues not prominent. Stems few to several, erect or decumbent, 20-70 cm, leafy, sparingly branched to rather much branched. Petiole of basal leaves 5-10 cm; blade narrowly ovate, 5-10 × 2-3 cm, bipinnate with 4 or 5 pairs of primary leaflets, these with 1 or 2(or 3) pairs of secondary leaflets; secondary leaflets nearly sessile, deeply 3-divided, sometimes segments slightly 2- or 3-divided; ultimate segments oblong-obovate, 1-2(-3) mm wide, apex rounded to retuse, muticous or very slightly mucronate. Upper leaves smaller. Raceme simple, lax, 8-25-flowered, usually with an axillary raceme from uppermost leaf; bracts 3-5 mm, equaling or usually shorter than pedicels, attenuate into a slender apex. Pedicel 4-6(-10) mm, erect-spreading in fruit. Flowers yellow to orange-yellow, often suffused with brownish red. Sepals ovate, 1.5-4 × 1-2 mm, circumdentate, acute or very shortly acuminate. Outer petals with narrow limb, without crest, apex mucronate; upper petal 12-18 mm; spur 3-5 mm, rounded-obtuse; nectary extended through 1/2 of spur or more; inner petals 9-14 mm; claw equaling limb. Stigma: see section description. Capsule suberect, straight or often curved, linear-oblong, 15-27 mm including style ca. 4 mm. Seeds in 1 row, black, shiny, very faintly reticulate, with elaiosome set below a protruding hilum area. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Jun-Oct.

This is a variable species as to size, habit (erect or ascending), and size of flowers, seeds, and elaiosomes. The variation is partly geographically correlated but not fully understood at present.

● Dry mountains, dry river sands, stone crevices, road cuts; 1000-3900 m. Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan.