These are herbaceous plants, tall and short, that have fleshy roots, quickly spreading to give good clumps of flowering stems. To multiply the plants, lift the roots every few years and simply mix them with more compost and spread them around - there is no need to plant individual pieces. The flowers are the usual characteristics shape, in many varieties in shades of blue.

Corydalis quantmeyerana 'Chocolate Stars' has pinky-lilac flowers above a mound of chocolate-purple foliage, which matures to green in the summer.