Herbs, perennial, very glaucous. Rootstock vertical, ± cylindric, often very long, with age splitting like a multi-stranded rope, crowned by withered remnants of petioles, a lax rosette of leaves and few to several, ascending, angular, leafy and branched stems 20-40(-60) cm. Petiole of basal leaves 5-12 cm; blade narrowly ovate, 5-12 × 3-6 cm, bipinnate to almost tripinnate; ultimate segments lanceolate to linear, 3-5 mm, acuminate. Cauline leaves like basal leaves, but petiole shorter and blade smaller and less divided. Racemes 4-10-flowered, rather dense at first, soon elongating; lower bracts often leaflike, petiolate, 1-1.5 cm; upper ones smaller, pinnatifid to entire. Lower pedicels 1-1.5(-2) cm, upper ones shorter, spreading in flower, arcuately recurved at fruiting. Sepals whitish, 1-2 × 1-2 mm, dentate. Corolla yellow, spur and keel of outer petals with purplish brown suffusion, or keels green; outer petals subacute, usually crested; upper petal 11-14 mm, crest high and entire; spur slightly downcurved, conical, ca. 5 mm; nectary ca. 1/2 as long as spur; inner petals ca. 7 mm. Stigma like in Corydalis meifolia. Capsule broadly obovoid, 6-7 × 3-4 mm, 5-9-seeded, with 10 prominent papillose veins; style 2-2.5 mm. Seeds dull, 1-1.3 mm.
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