EVERGREEN

Plant Encyclopedia

Corydalis gigantea ("Ezookeman")

Japanese name: エゾオオケマン (蝦夷大華鬘)
Scientific name: Corydalis gigantea

A perennial growing in broadleaf forests along mountain streams, reaching more than 1 m in height.

It has a cylindrical, strongly thickened rhizome.
The stem is erect, hairless and smooth, with blackish brown scales at the base.
The leaves are 2–3 times ternately pinnately compound; the leaflets are pinnately divided, markedly powdery white on the underside, and when dried the upper surface turns black and the veins become conspicuous.

One inflorescence is borne at the stem tip and 1–3 in the lower leaf axils, each a raceme 4–11 cm long bearing 10–20 flowers.
The flower stalks are 7–11 mm long, and the bracts are linear.
The flowers are white at first and later turn reddish purple; the spur is at first curved upward but later becomes straight.
When mature, the flower, including the spur, is about 3 cm long, and the spur is thick, cylindrical and round at the tip.

The fruit is a club-shaped capsule 15–35 mm long and 5–7 mm wide.
The seeds are glossy black, 3–3.5 mm in diameter.

Details

Names
Japanese: エゾオオケマン(蝦夷大華鬘)、オオムラサキケマン(大紫華鬘)、カラフトオオケマン(樺太大華鬘)
Life form
Perennial
Habit
Terrestrial
Flowering season
May, June
Distribution or origin
Japan (Mt. Furano-nishidake, Hokkaido)
Height
1000 mm
Leaf shape
Special
Leaf arrangement
Basal, Alternate
Inflorescence
Raceme
Flower color
White, Purple
Inflorescence length
40–110
Leaf color
Green
Designated plants
EN: Endangered (Class IB), Endemic to Japan

Translated from our Japanese encyclopedia. If anything differs, the Japanese page is correct.

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