Keyed Out #108 — Corydalis scouleri

Question 1

Two small pale {sepals} drop away as the bud opens, leaving four {petals} arranged in two facing pairs, the outer pair shaped quite unlike the inner.

Accepted Answer

poppy family

Question 2

Its fruit is a dry many-seeded case built from two joined {carpels}, and the seeds sit attached along the inner wall of that case rather than to a column standing up its middle.

Accepted Answer

Papaveraceae

Question 3

Just one of its four {petals} is drawn backward into a long hollow {spur}, so each flower falls into matching halves along a single plane and has a clear upper and lower side.

Accepted Answer

Corydalis

Question 4

It holds itself up on its own erect stems, hollow when snapped, instead of clambering over its neighbours by curling the slender tips of its leaves around them.

Accepted Answer

Corydalis

Question 5

It rises 2 to 4 feet (60 to 120 cm) on those hollow stems from thick fleshy {rhizomes} creeping sideways through the leaf litter, not from a small rounded underground {tuber}.

Accepted Answer

Corydalis scouleri

Question 6

Its leaves are cut three or four times over, yet the final segments stay large and oblong, 1 to 3 inches (2 to 8 cm) long, rather than dividing away into many small narrow parsley-like pieces.

Accepted Answer

Corydalis scouleri