2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Corydalis (lat. Corydalis) - a flowering shade-tolerant plant from the Dymyankovye family.
Description
Corydalis can be both an annual and a perennial, while both very small, up to five centimeters in height, and rather large specimens, reaching two meters in height, are equally often found. As a rule, perennial varieties of this plant turn out to be relatively low - their height usually ranges from ten to thirty centimeters. And the long and branched roots of the corydalis are always very thick and are characterized by a tuberous shape.
As for the leaves of the corydalis, they are either green or bluish, and most often there are two of them. All these leaves are compound, twice or thrice-divided into independent small leaf lobules. By the way, the corydalis is an ephemeroid plant, since, having appeared on plants in early spring, its leaves die off by the end of May.
Corydalis flowers form luxurious brushes right at the very tops of the stems, while each flower has a very nice "accompaniment" in the form of a bracts. And you can admire the flowering of the Corydalis only in spring, in April or in May. And soon after the end of flowering, the aerial parts of this beauty will gradually die off until next year.
In total, the corydalis genus has about 320 species.
Where grows
Corydalis is very widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, or more precisely, in its temperate zones.
Usage
Corydalis is actively used in ornamental gardening. At the same time, it is especially often used when creating garden and park landscapes made in a natural style.
Most often, a hollow corydalis is grown in a culture - this plant boasts not only multiply divided leaves, but also luxurious white, purple-pink or dark purple flowers. Quite often in the culture, Haller's crested crested hed with amazing pinkish-purple flowers, Marshall's crested crested with magnificent creamy yellow flowers, bracts crested with very large flowers of light yellow color, as well as yellow crested with bright yellow flowers.
Most often, Corydalis are planted in fairly large groups, in addition, plant species that prefer an open location are excellent for placement in rockeries. And the forest varieties of this beauty will feel great in the partial shade of a wide variety of deciduous trees, among the plants that form a dense ground cover, characterized by a relatively shallow root system - these, for example, include tenacious and lambs. As for the best partner plants for the Corydalis, botanical tulips, mouse hyacinths, snowdrops, goose onions, crocuses, chionodoxa and a number of other ephemeroids stand out among them.
And the alkaloids contained in the tubers of the corydalis make it an incredibly valuable medicinal plant.
Growing and caring
Corydalis will grow best in shady areas with fairly loose forest soils. And since the main growing season of the corydalis falls in the spring, when there is still a sufficient amount of snow moisture in the soil, this plant does not need watering at all. And in general, this beauty is quite unpretentious, which also cannot but rejoice.
Corydalis propagation is carried out both by tubers and by sowing freshly harvested seeds, while the plant is usually planted at the very end of the summer season to a depth of five to seven centimeters. Seedlings, as a rule, bloom only in the second or even in the third year.
