Taxonomy
Family: Fumariaceae
Habitat
Rich, mesic woods.
Associates
Distribution
Southern ME and southern Quebec west to southern MN, south to NC, TN, and MO.
Morphology
Low, mounding perennial from a short rhizome covered with a few yellow, pea-shaped bulblets. Leaves all basal, finely divided, leaves glaucous beneath. Flowers in an arching scape, irregular; corolla with divaricately spreading spurs, the spurs about as long as broad (more broadly rounded than those of D. cucullaria).
Notes
Flowers April to May
Wetland indicator: Upland
The name squirrel corn presumably is in reference to the small yellow bulblets that form near the base of the plant; not to be confused with a "corm" which is a specialized storage structure found in other groups of plants.
References
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2004 |