Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various herbs of the genus Corydalis native chiefly to northern temperate regions and having finely divided leaves and spurred, often yellow or pinkish flowers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any member of the genus Corydalis of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the fumewort family.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Corydalis, genus name, from Greek korudallis, crested lark (from the shape of the flowers), from korudos; see ker- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • We can have a dozen pots in the shade house limping along, but walk outside and look under some racks and WOW! the corydalis is so beautiful it’s ridiculous.

    The beautiful — and frustrating — corydalis « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009

  • Then a few months ago, I lost a dogwood tree that was very near my corydalis.

    The beautiful — and frustrating — corydalis « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009

  • Beneath the trees grow clumps of pale cardamine andwild geranium, fragrant blue phlox, ferny gold corydalis, maroon trilliums, and dainty clumps of wild wood violets.

    My Garden, part 1 « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009

  • When I had the tree removed, it opened up that space quite a bit and allowed in more indirect sunlight — and my corydalis EXPLODED!

    The beautiful — and frustrating — corydalis « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009

  • The 'Blue Panda' corydalis needs some shade, rich soil and lots of water.

    Bright Blue Garden Hues 2010

  • Hard Labor A few days later, near sunset, I was on the hill behind the house, digging up the tubers of a small patch of corydalis I had found.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • For all its charm, the garden was, and is, a teaching garden, a living museum of some 1,400 historic plants — most remarkably the Siberian corydalis, a hardy yellow wildflower that arrived in 1765 as a gift from the Finnish naturalist Erik Laxman and has survived continuously for three centuries, even through many decades when the garden was abandoned (it looked like a potato patch, one nineteenth-century pilgrim remarked in dismay).

    The Constant Gardener 2007

  • Ms. Lagergren began to take anti-depressants and sought refuge in her yard, tufts of corydalis ringing the trunks of her apple and pear trees.

    The Wallenberg Curse 2009

  • For all its charm, the garden was, and is, a teaching garden, a living museum of some 1,400 historic plants — most remarkably the Siberian corydalis, a hardy yellow wildflower that arrived in 1765 as a gift from the Finnish naturalist Erik Laxman and has survived continuously for three centuries, even through many decades when the garden was abandoned (it looked like a potato patch, one nineteenth-century pilgrim remarked in dismay).

    The Constant Gardener 2007

  • The rest of my prescription was for a homemade diet, antioxidant vitamins, glucosamine, and herbs—crampbark, corydalis root, meadowsweet, and marshmallow root—to relax muscles and ease pain.

    The Last Chance Dog D.V.M. Donna Kelleher 2003

Comments

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  • genus name for yellow fumitory (C. lutea), sometimes called yellow corydalis

    antepenultimate stress /kəˈrɪdəlɪs/, not /ˌkɒrɪˈdeɪlɪs/ as I had first guessed

    July 3, 2008