Corydalis bungeana Seeds | Bunge’s Corydalis
LATIN NAME: Corydalis bungeana
COMMON NAME: Bunge’s Corydalis
Plant Profile
Bunge’s corydalis is a small annual of the poppy family, native to open, sunny ground in eastern Asia, where it grows on dry slopes, at field edges and in thin grass. It reaches ten to forty centimetres, with much-divided, fern-like, blue-green leaves and small spurred flowers in pink-purple, borne in loose clusters from April to June.
The plant is delicate in build but tough in habit, and it completes its life in a single season, flowering early and dying back as the summer heats up. The flowers have the closed, lipped form typical of the genus, with a short spur at the back, and they are visited by early bees. The seed is small and black and is ejected from the pod when it is ripe.
Science & Biotechnology
Corydalis is one of the richest genera in the Papaveraceae for alkaloids, and Bunge’s corydalis is no exception. It contains corynoline, protopine and a series of related isoquinoline compounds, and extracts of the whole plant have been studied for anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activity. The genus is also the source of tetrahydropalmatine, from Corydalis yanhusuo, which is one of the better-studied plant analgesics.
The taxonomy of the Asian annual corydalis species is unsettled, and Bunge’s corydalis has been placed in several different sections of the genus. It is a self-pollinating annual with a short life cycle, which makes it a convenient subject for studies of alkaloid variation between populations, since each plant is a single genotype and the chemistry can be compared directly.
Uses & Benefits
The whole plant is used in Chinese medicine under the name ku di ding, where it is classed as a heat-clearing and detoxifying herb and is used for skin infections, boils and sore throat. It is usually taken as a decoction or applied as a wash, and it is one of the ingredients of several patent medicines. It is not a kitchen herb and should not be used without guidance.
In a garden it is a plant for a rock garden, a gravel bed or the front of a dry border, where its ferny foliage and early flowers are welcome in spring. It is also useful in a meadow mix, since it flowers before the grasses grow tall and then disappears. It self-sows readily in bare, gritty ground and will move around a gravel garden from year to year.
Growing from Seed
Sow in autumn or early spring on the surface of a gritty compost, and cover very lightly; the seed needs light and a period of cold improves the result. Germination is often in two flushes, one in autumn and one in spring, which is a useful hedge against a bad season.
Plant out in full sun in poor, sharp-draining soil, and do not enrich the ground, which makes the plants soft and short-lived. Water only while they are establishing. Let the plants set seed and shed it where they stand, and they will return each year without being sown again. In a wet winter the seed may rot, so a raised bed or a gravel mulch gives the best chance.
Our Take
A small, ferny annual with early purple flowers and a serious alkaloid chemistry. Give it gravel, sun and a cold winter, and let it seed itself.
Related Reading
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