Epimedium pinnatum subsp. colchicum (Boiss.) Stearn

Evergreen herb to about 40 cm tall when in flower; rootstock rhizomatous. Leaves basal. Leaflets mostly 3-5, more or less ovate, tips pointed, margins with a few spiny teeth. Flower stalks leafless with 15-30 flowers. Petals to about 3.5 cm long with a spur. Stamens 5-6 mm long, protruding from the flower; spring to summer.

Russia (W Caucasus)

The following are occasionally available: E. ×versicolor E. Morren has mostly 9 leaflets that are mottled or red at first; it is grown mainly as the cultivar 'Sulphureum' which has flowers with the inner sepals pale yellow and petals bright yellow. E. ×youngianum Fisch. & C.A. Mey., a Japanese hybrid, has 2-9 leaflets and flowers white or rose with variable spur lengths, stamens much shorter than the petals.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Ranunculanae
order      Ranunculales
family       Berberidaceae
genus        Epimedium L.
species         Epimedium pinnatum Fisch