Corydalis
Scrambled Eggs
Corydalis aurea
Photograph taken at Mesquite Wash, Maricopa Co., Arizona. 24 February 2007 during an Arizona Natural History Field Trip.
FLOWERS: Maybe
you was fixing breakfast at the campsite and spilled some eggs? Bright
yellow flowers are bilaterally symmetrical with a well-developed nectar tube.
Six stamens. Mostly early spring.
RANGE: These plants occur sporadically throughout the upper elevations
of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Sonora in damp, sandy soil.
LEAVES: Finely disected, compound leaves are glabrous.
FRUIT: curved, elongate capsule
HERB: Biennial or perennial. Related to poppy family and contains
poisonous alkaloids, but now put in the family Fumariaceae.