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Bird-In-A-Bush

Bird-In-A-Bush

Corydalis solida

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How common: Very common

Bird-In-A-Bush is a small, early-blooming spring flower of rich woods and old parks. It bears tight clusters of purple‑red, tube-shaped flowers above finely cut leaves, then dies back soon after. You can see it across much of Europe and it is also planted in gardens. Warning: all parts are poisonous.

Did you know?

  • Ants carry the seeds away.
  • It uses food stored the previous summer to bloom very early, then fades fast.

About the species

Identification

A small spring plant (10–25 cm) with an upright stem from a small underground bulb-like lump. Two to three soft, blue‑green leaves are divided into many rounded pieces. At the top sits a tight bunch of 10–20 long, tubular flowers, usually purple‑red to red, sometimes white; each has a thin tube pointing backward (a spur). Just below the flowers are large green, often lobed leaf‑like pieces. After flowering it forms narrow, flat seed pods and dies back quickly. Larger and sturdier than Corydalis intermedia, with bigger flowers and bigger leaf‑like pieces under the flowers. Flowers in Finland in May.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

herb-rich forest

Toxicity

A poisonous plant – do not taste it. Source: HUS Poison Information Centre (Finland), tel. 0800 147 111.

Flowering

May

About the habitat

Grows in rich, moist, light deciduous woods, on stream and river banks, among shrubs at the foot of rocks, and in parks and lawns under trees; sometimes escapes near settlements. Mainly in southern Finland; common along the coast, rare inland.

Sources

Photo: Adrien Cozannet, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6170913068

Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37969

Text: Pinkka: BIO-513 Syventävä putkilokasvituntemus - Conium-Epilobium, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37969

Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtön biologinen asema, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37969

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pystykiurunkannus

See also