Herbs, perennial, 28-50 cm tall. Rootstock elongate, branched, to 4 cm in diam. at apex, with fibrous remnants of leaf bases and old stems. Stems 1-4, suberect to ascending, simple or branched, lower part without leaves, upper 1/2-3/4 with 2-4 leaves. Radical leaves few to several; petiole 8-14 cm; blade pale abaxially, green adaxially, ovate to ovate-triangular, 5-10 × 5-10 cm, pinnate, usually with 3 pairs of shortly stalked to sessile leaflets; terminal one larger, elliptic, base cuneate, 3-parted, lobes bifid to trifid; lateral ones broadly ovate, deeply trifid; ultimate lobes ovate or lanceolate, coarsely dentate, acute. Cauline leaves shortly stalked to sessile; blade 4-6 × 3-5 cm. Racemes dense, 9-20-flowered; lower bracts incised, others linear-lanceolate, all longer than pedicels. Pedicel 5-8 mm, at fruiting slightly elongated. Sepals deltoid, ca. 2 mm, dentate. Flowers yellow, rarely nearly white (or ?purple, see Corydalis sigmantha), sigmoidally curved, 20-25 mm. Outer petals with short very high crests extending conspicuously beyond petal apex; spur recurved at apex, cylindric, 9-11 mm, obtuse; nectary ca. 2/3 as long as spur; lower petal with narrow basal part ca. 5 mm, slightly expanded; inner petals 13-14 mm, claw ca. equal to petal lobes, slender. Stigma rounded to square, with 8 papillae. Capsule linear, moniliform, 1-1.5 cm, ca. 5-seeded; style ca. 3 mm. Seeds in 1 row.
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