Corydalis racemosa Bunge, Enum. Pl. Chin. Bor. 5. 1833, not (Thunberg) Persoon (1806); C. bungeana var. odontopetala Hemsley.

Herbs, [winter] annual [?biennial], glaucous, 10-20(-50) cm tall, with taproot. Stem diffusely spreading and branched from base, ridged. Basal leaves many, 4-8 cm; petiole ca. equal to blade, base ± sheathed, margin membranous; blade pale abaxially, green adaxially, bipinnate; primary leaflets 3-5 pairs, shortly stalked; secondary leaflets 2 or 3 pairs, deeply divided into 3-10 short narrow obtuse segments. Cauline leaves like basal leaves. Racemes 6-10-flowered, at first dense, much elongating in fruit; bracts petiolate to nearly sessile, leaflike, obviously longer than petiole, 3-7(-15) mm. Pedicel 3-6 mm, ± arcuate in fruit. Sepals often caducous, broadly ovate to deltoid, 0.7-1.5 mm, with teeth. Flowers pink to lavender or white with darker keels, inner petals darker at tip; outer petals shortly crested, margin entire to dentate, apex truncate to emarginate; upper petal 11-15 mm; spur subsigmoidally curved, 4-5 mm, apex obtuse; nectary extended through ca. 2/3 of spur; lower petal with narrow claw; inner petals 7-8 mm. Stigma square, small, with 8 papillae. Capsule drooping, oblong, 12-20 × ca. 4 mm, 8-15-seeded, attenuate into style ca. 1.5 mm. Seeds in 2 rows, 2(-2.5) mm, sharply keeled, margin with faint radial small linear impressions; elaiosome large.

Stony slopes, sands; sea level to 1500 m. Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi [N Korea, SE Mongolia, Russia (Far East)].