Kentucky Plant Atlas




Record uncertain    No county information
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Fumariaceae [Papaveraceae] Corydalis micrantha
Corydalis micrantha (Engelm. ex Gray) Gray
ALI: no HAB: n/a, n/a, n/a, n/a ABU: n/a, n/a, 0
This largely midwestern species has not been verified in Ky., but it may be expected since it is widespread across Mo. and adjacent s. Ill.; also disjunct populations occur in e. Tenn. and w. N.Car. (FNA 3, K, W, Y). There is a reported coll. in fruit by Grubbs (1989) from HICK (GA, TROY but not MUR): J. T. Grubbs 821, 18 Apr 1988, 0.3 miles from Chalk Bluff Rd on Hickman Rd at Three Ponds. This collection appears to be flavula, but further study of colls. from across Ky. is desirable. C. micrantha has distinctly larger flowers than flavula, but variation in flower size, cleistogamy and seed characters can be confusing within the genus. The species differs as follows (FNA 3, W, Y): corollas of regular (chasmogamous) flowers 11-15 mm long (versus 7-9 mm), with spur 4-6 mm long (versus 1.5-2 mm) and straight or nearly so (versus incurved); pedicels 2-6 mm long (versus 6-22 mm), remaining ascendant in fruit (versus becoming pendant); seeds 1.2-1.6 mm wide (versus 1.9-2.1 mm), with a rounded rim (versus sharply angled with a minutely angled ridge). Both species can produce cleistogamous flowers, especially later in their life; these flowers are smaller and hard to distinguish between species.