Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Corydalis

For many years the Four Corners area was said to have two species of Corydalis: C. aurea and C. curvisiliqua. However,the Flora of North America and John Kartesz's Synthesis of the North American Flora indicate that C. curvisiliqua is primarily a south central U.S. species (see maps below) and that we have two subspecies of C. aurea, subspecies aurea and subspecies occidentalis.

William Weber's 2012 edition of Colorado Flora: Western Slope accepts C. aurea and C. curvisiliqua subspecies occidentalis.

Stanley Welsh's A Utah Flora accepts only one species, C. aurea and says, "Overlap of the two entities in Utah is complete, and whether the morphologically different entities represent taxa per se is open to investigation".

Intermountain Flora agrees with Welsh, accepts only one taxa, C. aurea, and indicates that the two proposed subspecies are "weakly defined and geographically overlapping." "Differences exist but the correlations are not good. We do not find it useful to attempt a taxonomic distinction".

The Flora of North America separates the two subspecies shown below as follows:

C. aurea subspecies aurea: Capsules slender, pendent or spreading at maturity, usually 18–24 mm; seeds without marginal ring; leaves generally exceeding racemes.

C. aurea subspecies occidentalis: Capsules stout, erect at maturity, 12–20 mm; seeds with narrow marginal ring; racemes generally exceeding leaves.

The genus Corydalis was named by highly respected botanist and Corydalis expert, Augustin de Candolle, in 1805. In 1809 Carl Willdenow named a new species, Corydalis aurea from a specimen collected by an unnamed botanist in "Habitat in Canada". In 1867 Engelmann named Corydalis aurea var. occidentalis; thus making Willdenow's taxon, Corydalis aurea var. aurea. The two taxa are now usually considered "subspecies" instead of "varieties".

"Corydalis" is the Greek word for the Crested Lark bird and the word refers either to the crested hood of the upper petal or to the spur of the flower -- either of which could have reminded de Candolle of the Crested Lark's foot spur. "Aurea" is Latin for "golden" and "occidentalis" is Latin for "western".

Click to read an informative article by Utah botanist Sarah Topp about the life-cycle of Corydalis aurea and its role as a pioneer species.

Corydalis aurea

Corydalis aurea subspecies aurea (Golden Corydalis, Fumewort)
Fumariaceae. Synonym: Papaveraceae. (Poppy Family)

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands. Spring.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 1, 2006, Bear Creek Trail, May 12, 2009, and near Haviland Lake, June 17, 2009.

Tightly packed clusters of flowers elongate to loose racemes. Leaves are small and finely dissected. Notice that the spur at the back of the flower is less than half the length of the flower. This is especially visible at the left side of the photograph immediately below.

Corydalis aurea subspecies occidentalis has a spur about half the length of the flower. The Flora of North America does not mention this distinction between our subspecies; Weber does.

Seed pods of both subspecies can be curved upward.

Corydalis aurea

Corydalis aurea subspecies occidentalis. (Curvepod Corydalis, Fumewort) Synonym: Corydalis curvisiliqua.
Fumariaceae. Synonym: Papaveraceae. (Poppy Family)

Semi-desert, foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Above: Bear Creek Trail north of Dolores, June 7, 2021.
Left: BLM lands near the San Juan River, Utah, April 6, 2005.

This Corydalis is distinguished from the above subspecies in several ways: it is found at lower elevations, and its flowers are more robust, have longer spurs, and stand higher above the leaves. Also see the points of distinction discussed at the top of this page.

Although Corydalis plants in the Four Corners area are most often compact and no more than 6 inches or so tall, plants can be, as shown immediately above, spreading and over a foot tall.

In sandy areas, even those disturbed by cattle, Corydalis aurea subspecies occidentalis can be abundant, especially in the sheltered protection of such shrubs as Sagebrush. From a distance then, the shrubs seem to be flowering bright yellow.

Corydalis aurea subspecies occidentalis. (Curvepod Corydalis, Fumewort) Synonym: Corydalis curvisiliqua.
Fumariaceae. Synonym: Papaveraceae. (Poppy Family)

Semi-desert, foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Spring.
Canyonlands National Park, Utah, April 12, 2005.

The strongly curved seed pod can be seen at the bottom of the photograph.

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Corydalis aurea subspecies aurea

Range map for Corydalis aurea subspecies aurea

Corydalis aurea subspecies occidentalis

Range map for Corydalis aurea subspecies occidentalis

Corydalis aurea curvisiliqua

Range map for Corydalis curvisiliqua