As soon as the snow melts, primroses appear in the forests. Among the copses, lilies of the valley, one can observe neat tall flowers of an unusual shape. This Corydalis is a plant common in the wild and in garden cultivation.
Corydalis flower of the Poppy family, Dymyankov subfamily, Dicotyledon class. This flower is relatively rare in gardening. But the forest version of this early flowering plant, for sure, everyone saw. It was named for its shape and fluffy inflorescences (the etymology of the name goes back to the Roman word "helmet", to which the flowers of Corydalis are somewhat similar). Even in the people it is called the "chicken forelock", all for the same strange shape of the flower.
This cute forest primrose is familiar to anyone who at least once got out into the forest in early spring.
What does a corydalis look like?
Initially, the plant grew in the wild, but unpretentiousness and vitality make it quite suitable for decorating garden beds. Corydalis is a perennial plant, it has a direct unbranched stem, delicate succulent leaves and a flower crowning a rather long stalk of a quarter meter. Forest - grows best in oak forests, you can find it in deciduous forests, aspen and birch forests.
The crested corydalis has a racemose inflorescence (as it is sometimes called), in which several pale purple, pale red or purple flowers are collected. Dense crested chickpeas is common in Russian forests; the flower of such a plant has bilobes.
This primrose begins to bloom as early as no garden plant blooms, therefore it begins to decorate the site with the very first
This plant comes from the forests of Asia and Europe. It perfectly takes root on stony soils, so if there is an uncomfortable shady piece of land or a place near a pond or small lake at the cottage, this is the best place to put an unpretentious and spring little thing there.
According to the description of the flower of Corydalis, this plant in nature has a height of 20 cm, under good conditions, individual varieties sometimes grow up to a meter in height. The flowers are hollow, can be white, pinkish, lilac, purple. The leaves, or grass, of the crested crest, are many, have a bright, juicy green color. The plant can be rhizome, tuberous.
Interesting! In addition to the fact that the plant is of interest as a culture for decorating the garden, it is still medicinal. Based on tubers, traditional medicine is prepared. The plant is poisonous; the flower formula contains alkaloids, which are used in folk medicine in a small dose, but are not used in scientific medicine.
Common Varieties of Corydalis
In nature, there are more than three hundred species of plants, which are usually divided into two groups. The first and most common are forest species, the most unpretentious, known throughout Russia. This group includes several varieties.
Dense Corydalis
This forest perennial known to many is widespread in Western Siberia and the European part of Russia.
Corydalis dense reaches 20 cm in height, has one cylindrical inflorescence on the stem. The plant is fragrant, is an early honey plant.
It grows in mixed forests, loves humus soils and bright places: edges, a rare forest, shrubs, ravine banks.
Chinese Corydalis
It has recently been included in the list of species of this plant. Chinese Crested differs from others in that the only one can freeze when the temperature drops below 20 degrees. In general, the plant has common signs of tuberous tufts: a pleasant aroma, attractive appearance, due to which it is willingly bred in gardens. Not only flowers, but also leaves have a decorative look.
Yellow Corydalis
This species is distributed mainly in Western Europe, where it is grown, as a rule, in a roller coaster. In the wild, yellow crested crest is considered an alien weed, as it is unpretentious, like all crested crests, and easily adapts to mountainous conditions: it can grow on rocks and limestones.
Hollow Corydalis
Another variety of this plant is the hollow Corydalis. This is a widespread perennial. A specific description was given to her by Karl Linney, who noted that the tuber of the plant is quite large and powerful, dies from the inside, forming a cavity. Hence the name. It blooms in spring, the inflorescences are loose, consisting of purple-pink or white flowers.
Galler's Corydalis
Galler Corydalis is a variety of Corydalis, presented in several varieties. The flowers are lilac, white, and there are two-tone varieties. Used in home gardening, well suited for landscaping shady gardens, parks.
Blue Corydalis
Ornamental plant, characterized by beautiful inflorescences of blue color, dense and compact. Blue crested fish is quite rare, although it is loved by collectors.
Corydalis noble
Among other species, noble Corydalis is characterized in that it can grow up to 80 cm in height. It has a hollow erect stem, decorated with many leaves and a short dense brush of yellow-orange flowers.
Interesting! You can hardly find it in the gardens; you can find it in the reserves of Siberia and Altai.
Corydalis Marshall
Corydalis Marshall is an unpretentious plant that looks like a hollow Corydalis. It has fairly large brushes, collected from bright yellow or straw-lemon flowers. Unlike the hollow crested flower, the flowers are paler, larger, sometimes reaching 4 cm in length.
Hybrid crested
Exceptionally beautiful variety with large clear blue flowers, collected in dense large inflorescences. The plant is fragrant, melliferous, attractive to bees. Refers to rhizome species.
Forest Corydalis
The most famous and most common species that is found in Russian forests almost everywhere. This is an unpretentious penumbra plant, it loves humus moist and loose soil.
Rhizome crested
This is more of a plant species than a variety. Rhizome corydalis instead of the bulb have rhizomes. In addition to the above yellow and noble, sulfur-yellow crested also belongs to the rhizome.
Smoky Corydalis
It is a coastal species, often found on river banks, in pebbles and on limestones. Blooms in yellow flowers, is currently a rare plant.
Dense crested fish looks very beautiful, it is often grown even in flower pots
There are two types of annuals: Impatiens and evergreen, both are quite rare and not common.
Interesting! In China, a pug breed dog called Chinese Crested was bred. What connects this little dog with a short blunt nose and a square physique with a crested flower is not known.
Care Features
Now about how the Corydalis looks like planting and caring for it in the open ground.
Priming
Rhizomes need shaded places and sod-rich humus-rich land.
Watering mode
Those who decide to transfer the plant to their garden can not expect unpleasant surprises from it. This flower grows very easily, requiring nothing but a shaded place and periodic watering. It is not necessary to water much and often, but drought also harms the plant. Tuberous to the sun are more supportive, they can grow on lawns, clearings, along paths, they prefer loamy, loose or sandy loamy soil.
Interesting! Tuberous are ephemeroids, that is, in the summer they go into a state of rest. Rhizome corydalis are no different.
Top dressing
Do I need to fertilize under such an unpretentious flower? In the forest, it grows by itself. In fact, only forest corydalis require some participation - under them, soddy soil or humus is brought into the spring digging under them. The rest do not need feeding.
In winter, at rest
When the plant ends the active period of flowering and fruiting, it falls into a state of rest. This happens with tuberous species that turn yellow, dry out, it may seem that they died. This is not so - they are resting, this is a phase of rest. Tubers lie in the ground, they are not afraid of drought, or even the complete mowing of the ground part. At this time, tubers can be transplanted, although it is sometimes difficult to find them in the soil.
Corydalis are usually easily tolerated in winter; they are characterized by high winter hardiness.
When and how it blooms
Types of flowers
Corydalis flowers always grow lush inflorescences, can be more or less elongated downward. Sweet nectar that accumulates in Spur attracts bumblebees. Corydalis flowers differ in color: they can be yellow and white, pink and lilac, blue and purple.
Flower shapes
More common in inflorescences, but there may be single flowers. Flowers are honey plants, each has a spur in the upper part, insects find nectar in it. Fading, the plant forms a box with seeds.
Flowering period
In natural conditions it blooms in early spring, in a garden the plant can bloom from May to September, although some garden species bloom in late April.
How is the crested crest
The easiest way to propagate is by planting finished tubers. In August and early autumn, a large selection of tuberous tufts appears in stores, they can be planted in a pot or left in a perforated bag with sawdust, and taken out to the open ground in spring.
The second method is the division of tubers, which is done before planting directly. Since they plant in the spring, they divide at this time. Autumn divided tubers can be planted in a pot until spring and kept in the room. The only problem is that by dividing it is possible to propagate limited varieties that form subordinate nodules.
Corydalis can become a real decoration of a spring garden flowerbed
Seed germination
The plant propagates by seeds often simply by self-seeding. If you need to sow manually, then seeds are shaken out of the seed boxes and immediately transferred to the pot. Watered, not allowing the seeds to dry out.
Important! Seeds lose their germination after 6-7 days, so you need to have time to collect and immediately sow.
Corydalis transplant
Corydalis is transplanted at any time, including during flowering. First, the upper ground part breaks off, then the plant is transferred together with a lump of earth to a new place. The case is simple, and the child will cope with it. Planted by deepening 6-7 cm or deeper if the tuber is large.
Possible problems in growing
In nature, the plant lives simply and without any conditions, it preserves this property in the garden. Despite the unpretentiousness, the corydalis is still susceptible to pests. Among the diseases, fungi and viruses are dangerous, foliage and stems suffer from them. Having found infection in the flowerbed, the diseased parts must be removed and burned.
Important! The main enemies of Corydalis are mice and moles, they gnaw tubers, which leads to decay.
No matter what the forest is without primroses! It is a pity that in cultural gardening they are still not very common. The photo below shows how beautiful a corydalis can be transferred to the garden. So far, it appears more in scientific reports on primroses, but, who knows, maybe soon it will become part of the reference books on the most popular varieties of garden flower crops.
