Scouler’s corydalis is a big, leafy plant that can stand two to four feet tall in damp, shady woods. Its hollow stems carry a few large leaves cut into many broad segments, which gives a patch a soft, lacy look. In spring and early summer the stems end in long spikes of 15 to 35 pink flowers.
Each flower is a slim tube with a long spur trailing behind it, up to about three quarters of an inch long and narrowing to a point, and the upper petal wears a small crest. Bumblebees and other bees pollinate them. The seed pods are the fun part. When ripe they burst open explosively, scattering shiny black seeds.
This species is a member of the poppy family with a small range, growing from British Columbia south only to northern Oregon, mostly in the lowlands between the coast and the foothills. The Mt. Hood area sits near the southern edge of that range. Look for it along shaded creeks and in moist woods in the lower forests. Pacific bleeding heart, a relative in the same family, shares the same kind of moist, shady ground and has similar lacy leaves.
How to identify it
Look for tall, hollow stems 2 to 4 feet high with usually three large, finely divided leaves partway up the stem or higher. Pink flowers about three quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter long, each with a long spur that narrows to a tip, crowd into spikes of 15 to 35 at the ends of the stems.
Look-alikes
Pacific bleeding heart has similar lacy leaves, but they all rise from the base of the plant and its pink flowers are heart-shaped and hang in small clusters. Cold-water corydalis, a rare relative of wet, shaded forest in southwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon that is listed as threatened in Washington, has smaller flowers with shorter spurs and leaves cut into many tiny segments.
Habitat
Moist, shady soil in forests and along streambanks at low elevations, between the coastline and the foothills. Its range runs from British Columbia to northern Oregon.
Sightings in the forest
409 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on August 28, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →