Greek name for the Crested Lark; the flower resembles this bird’s head.
Annual, biennial or perennial herbs. Leaves much divided, several times pinnate and fern-like. Flowers in simple or branched racemes each flower bilaterally symmetrical and the upper petal spurred. Fruit a dehiscent capsule with many seeds.
Plants occasionally available in nurseries for growing in cool areas include C. bulbosa (L.) DC. from Eurasia, and C. cheilanthifolia Hemsl. from C China.
Seed and division.
Flowers generally yellow or white in cultivated species. Easily confused with Pseudofumaria but the fruits have a persistent style.
About 400 species from temperate Eurasia and N America, most of which occur in the Sino-Himalayan region.
Source: (1997). Fumariaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
