Yellow Fumewort
Corydalis flavula
Click or tap the section titles below to learn more about this species!
CLASSIFICATION: What’s in a name?
Scientific Name: The genus Corydalis is derived from the Greek word korydallis, meaning “crested lark”, referring to the similarity of the flower’s spurs to those on the feet of larks.4 The epithet is derived from the Latin flavus, meaning yellow.
Common Name: Yellow fumewort is named for its yellow flowers, and Incised fumewort for the deeply cut, or incised foliage.
Family: Fumariaceae (Fumewort family). This is a large family of herbaceous plants, both annual and perennial. They typically have compound leaves with many divisions, and bilaterally symmetric flowers with four petals. The two outer petals are inflated or elongated into either a long spur or an inflated sac, and the inner two narrow and broadened at the tip.1
IDENTIFICATION: What does it look like?
Average Height: to 4 inches
Description: An annual spring ephemeral plant, growing low to the ground, often in colonies. The stems are smooth and often branched, and the foliage is smooth and a gray-green color, finely divided. Clusters of small yellow flowers are borne at the ends of the stems, in early spring. These are followed by long, slender capsules which burst open when ripe, scattering seeds which will become the next generation of plants.
Bloom time: Mar – Apr
Notes: This is one of the most common spring ephemeral wildflowers in nutrient-rich floodplains and toe slopes in the Virginia Piedmont, and can form large colonies. Its foliage is similar to the very invasive Corydalis incisa, but that species has pink flowers, instead of yellow.
LOCATION: Where is it at home?
Range: Documented in most counties in Virginia’s Piedmont and mountains, where it is common. Also found less frequently in the Coastal Plain. Widespread in the Upper South, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern United States.1,5
Geology/Soil: Typically found in soils rich in nutrients, including high levels of calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Habitat: Most strongly associated with rich moist slope forests and well-drained floodplain forests, but can be found also in other locations including dry, mafic or calcareous forests and woodlands.1,7
CONNECTIONS: What are its relationships to other plants, animals, and humans?
Flora associations: At Riverview Park, it can be found with a wide variety of other spring ephemerals, including spring beauty (Claytonia virginica var. virginica), mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), and Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), as well as many other species of rich floodplain forests.
Fauna associations: The flowers are pollinated by several species of bees, as well as the falcate orangetip butterfly (Anthocharis midea). In addition, a species of aphid, Macrosiphum corydalis, specializes on sucking the sap of Corydalis species.9 The seeds have an attached nutrient-packed ‘elaiosome’–a tasty snack pack evolved to attract ants. These treats are especially attractive to winnow ants (genus Aphaenogaster), some of the most common ants in eastern deciduous forests. While winnow ants collect Corydalis seeds in order to eat the elaiosomes, the ants generally don’t remove them from the seeds until they reach their nest. Once there they commonly discard the elaiosome-stripped seeds in a ‘midden’, the ant colony’s nutrient-rich waste pile, and a perfect place for seed germination.2,3 This strategy of using ants for seed dispersal (formally known as myrmecochory) is common among many other spring ephemerals in our area, including spring beauty (Claytonia virginica var. virginica), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), perfoliate bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata), and several species of violets (Viola spp.), among others.2
Human associations: Several medicinal uses for species in this genus are reported in traditional Chinese medicine.8
We want these plants to thrive and for everyone who gets to visit the park to enjoy them, so remember – don’t pick flowers or other parts of the plant!!
Bibliography & Definitions
1 Weakley, A.S., J.C. Ludwig, and J.F. Townsend. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Bland Crowder, ed. Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project, Inc., Richmond. Fort Worth: Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press, , pp. 1155-1157.
2 Clark, R. 2022. Are seed-dispersing ants elaiosome-limited? An experimental test in a Connecticut forest dominated by myrmecochorous plants. Food Webs 32 (2022)
3 In Defense of Plants. Episode 166 – Ants as Seed Dispersers a.k.a. The Myrmecochory Episode! June 24, 2018.
4 “Corydalis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corydalis. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
5 “2013 BONAP North American Plant Atlas. TaxonMaps.” Bonap.net, bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Corydalis. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
6 Council, Maryland Invasive Species. “An Incisive Invader – Maryland Invasive Species Council.” Maryland Invasive Species Council, 1 May 2017, mdinvasives.org/iotm/may-2017/. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
7 Nuzzo, Victoria A. “Demography and Habitat of Corydalis Flavula (Raf.) DC. (Fumariaceae) in South-Western Michigan (U. S. A.).” The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, vol. 132, no. 1, 2005, pp. 16–23, www.jstor.org/stable/20063741. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
8 Qin, Feng, et al. “Corydalis Saxicola Bunting: A Review of Its Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Clinical Applications.” International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 24, no. 2, 13 Jan. 2023, pp. 1626–1626, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9864617/, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24021626. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
9 “Slender Corydalis (Corydalis Micrantha Micrantha).” Www.illinoiswildflowers.info, www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/sl_corydalis.htm. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
10 Tangren, Sara, and Yvonne Ng. “Incised Fumewort (Corydalis Incisa) (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov, www.nps.gov/articles/000/incised-fumewort-corydalis-incisa.htm. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
11 Virginia Botanical Associates. “Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora | Corydalis Incisa (Thunb.) Pers.” Www.vaplantatlas.org, www.vaplantatlas.org/index.php?do=plant&plant=4568&search=Search. Accessed 4 Mar. 2024.
Definitions:
Spring ephemeral: A perennial plant which grows early in the spring – before the trees grow leaves – to take advantage of the sunlight reaching the forest floor. In less than 2 months, the plant grows, blooms, and produces seed and then disappears from view as the leaves die back.
Myrmecochory: The formal term used for the dispersal of seeds by ants.