Corydalis pseudojuncea Ludlow & Stearn, Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Bot. 5(2): 62 1975;

S-Tibet, W-Nepal, India (Kumaon) as per Catalogue of Life;


Perennial herbs, about 12-30 cm tall. Stem slender, weak and glabrous. Root stocks fascicled, thick, spindle-shaped, storage roots. Radical leaves few, normally solitary, biternate and rarely tri-ternate, leaflets deeply incised narrow, broadly obovate in outline, about 2-5.5 x 4-5 cm across, green glabrous above, veins prominent beneath, petiole slender, sheathed at the base, nearly as long as stem, about 8-25 cm long, with 3 leaflets, broadly obovate-oblong, base cuneate, apex acute, petiolules slender about 1-3 cm long. Cauline leaves absent or about 2, linear lanceolate, margin entire, 3-5 nerved about 2-6 cm long, petiole sessile. Inflorescence raceme, terminal, about 2-5 flowered, dense, about 2-4 cm long, bracts linear-lanceolate to narrow lanceolate, base cuneate, margin entire, apex long caudate, about 30-50 mm long. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, yellow tipped with purplish black at the apex and flushed with greenish brown, pedicels 3-5 mm long, Sepals 2, minute, margin erose, petals 4, upper petal broadly dorsally crested, about 10-12 mm long, spurred cylindric straight somewhat upcurved curved near apex, slightly membranous, lower petal crested, oblanceolate, about 14-17 mm long, spur attenuate, nectar glands 2/3rd as long as the spur, inner petals with purplish black on the apex, becoming purplish with age, about 6-7 mm long. Stamens 6, in 2 bundles, anthers dimorphous. Ovary unilocular, hypogynous, glabrous, ovules many, style filiform, curved at apex, about 2.5 mm long, stigmas broad with expanded filaments. Fruits capsule, ellipsoid-oblong, narrow near the base, apex subobtuse, about 19-23 x 2-2.5 mm across, dehiscing when mature by tumid or inflated valves, with persistent style. Seeds about 8-10, biseriate, suborbicular, about 1 mm across, smooth, shining black.

Corydalis species flowers are complete, bisexual, i.e., with functional male (androecium) and female (gynoecium), including stamens, carpels and ovary. Pollination is entomophilous i.e., by insects. Flowering/Fruiting: June-July.
Seeds may be dispersed by autochory i.e., self dispersal, anemochory i.e., dispersal by wind, zoochory i.e., dispersal by birds or animals.
Alpine Himalayas grassy slopes, altitude 3800-4500 m.
Uttarakhand; Asia: China, India, Nepal.

(Attributions-Ganeshaiah, K. N., UAS, Bangalore, India.; Kailash, B. R., ATREE, Bangalore, India.; Royal Norwegian Embassy grants. Indian Bioresource Information Network (IBIN), Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi, India.                




Corydalis pseudojuncea (Fumariaceae) from Uttarakhand: July 2015_DSR_3 : 4 posts by 4 authors. 2 correct images as above.

This Corydalis pseudojuncea Ludlow & Stearn (Fumariaceae) was collected by me from Kuari Pass- Dalisera alpine zones (Chamoli district) during my M. Sc. days (1988-89) for my M.Sc. thesis. Later I reported it as a new addition to the flora of India in 1997 (Rawat, D.S. 1997. Corydalis pseudo-juncea Ludlow (Fumariaceae) : A new record to India. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 94:  434-436). Unfortunately my name was misprinted as R.S.Rawat in the paper.
To my surprise, some workers (Pathak et al. 2013 in Nelumbo 55:45. 2013) once again reported it as a new addition to the Flora of India, 16 years after my publication. Page of Plant Discovery is also attached here. 
Here photographed in Khaliya alpines (Munsyari, Pithoragarh district) in July 2015. A plant always occurring solitary in grassy slopes and dull yellow spike of few flowers often escapes notice. A drawing of the species drawn in 1996 by me and published in my paper is also attached. 
This species is new addition in eFI.