''Corydalis solida'', fumewort or bird-in-a-bush, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Papaveraceae The Papaveraceae are an economically important family of about 42 genera and approximately 775 known species of flowering plants in the order Ranunculales, informally known as the poppy family. The family is cosmopolitan, occurring in tempera ...

, native to moist, shady habitats in northern Europe and Asia. Growing to , it is a

spring ephemeral An ephemeral plant is one marked by short life cycles. The word ephemeral means transitory or quickly fading. In regard to plants, it refers to several distinct growth strategies. The first, spring ephemeral, refers to perennial plants that emerge ...

, with foliage that appears in spring and dies down to its

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growin ...

ous rootstock in summer. It is cultivated for its deeply divided, ferny leaves and narrow, long-spurred flowers which appear in spring. The flowers show color variation, and may be mauve, purple, red, or white.

Systematics

The species was originally named in 1753 by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

as the variety ''solida'' of his ''Fumaria bulbosa''. It was raised to the species ''F. solida'' by

Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ''The Gardeners Dicti ...

in 1771. Its current assignment to the genus ''Corydalis'' was made by

Joseph Philippe de Clairville Joseph Philippe de Clairville (1742 – 31 July 1830) was a notable French botanist and entomologist, who was mainly active in Switzerland. De Clairville’s collection of Coleoptera, his chief interest, is in the Natural History Museum in Basel. ...

in 1811. pp. 40-47 Four subspecies are recognized: * ''C. solida'' subsp. ''incisa'' Lidén * ''C. solida'' subsp. ''longicarpa'' Lidén * ''C. solida'' subsp. ''solida'' * ''C. solida'' subsp. ''subremota'' Popov ex Lidén & Zetterlund Corydalis_solida_'George_Baker'_090325

*''C. solida'' subsp. ''incisa'' (pale purple flowers) has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (No ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

References

External links

Distribution map
at Virtuella floran solida Ephemeral plants Flora of Europe Garden plants Flora of Lebanon Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Ranunculales-stub