Corydalis bungeana seed

LATIN NAME: Corydalis bungeana

COMMON NAME: Bunge’s Corydalis

The Bunge’s corydalis is a handsome, low, leafy, annual or biennial herb of the open, sunny places, and its fine, much-divided, fern-like, blue-green leaves and its short, upright heads of the few small, pale-purple or whitish, spurred flowers have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as a low, leafy, annual or biennial herb, reaching up to forty centimetres or so, with the many slender, leafy stems bearing the alternate, much-divided, fern-like, blue-green leaves and, through the spring, the short, upright heads of the few small, pale-purple or whitish, spurred, two-lipped flowers, followed by the long, slender, dry capsules of the many small, round seeds. It is a species of the flowering plant in the poppy family, and it is native to the open, sunny places of the eastern Asia, while it is treasured for its long history of traditional use, and it is known as the Bunge’s corydalis.

In the poppy family it is the fern-leaved, spurred-flowered corydalis of the open places, a small plant of the old east with a long and careful record of use.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Bunge’s corydalis roots and parts are a familiar subject in the traditional plant chemistry of the eastern Asia, and the constituents have been examined with the greatest care by the researchers across the world. The botanists have mapped its place in the poppy family and the open-place flora, and the insect ecologists have watched the few early bees come to the small, spurred flowers of the spring. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the spring border and the rock garden keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the spring garden, the Bunge’s corydalis is the fern-leaved plant of the bright corner. Its spurred flowers feed the early bees, and the soft, blue-green, much-divided leaves give the border and the rock garden a fine, gentle presence. The old practice of the region keeps the plant in the tradition, and it grows well in the gritty, well-drained ground of the open, sunny spot. Fern-leaved, spurred and spring-early.

These seeds are small and numerous — sow them on the surface of pots of fine, gritty, free-draining seed compost and just press them in, since they germinate best in the light, keep the pots in a bright, open spot and water them gently, and they will be up before long.