Wildflower (forb) · Fumariaceae
Yellow fumewort
Corydalis flavula
Yellow fumewort is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 555 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Yellow fumewort at a glance
- Native in
- 555 counties, across 24 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5b PLANTS minimum temperature −18°F
- Mature height
- 1.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −18°F; zone 5b winters bottom out at −15°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Yellow fumewort is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 555 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 555 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 4 counties
- Arkansas 37 counties
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 3 counties
- Illinois 41 counties
- Indiana 34 counties
- Kansas 11 counties
- Kentucky 66 counties
- Louisiana 13 counties
- Michigan 2 counties
- Mississippi 3 counties
- Missouri 64 counties
- Nebraska 1 county
- New Jersey 10 counties
- New York 9 counties
- North Carolina 26 counties
- Ohio 32 counties
- Oklahoma 7 counties
- Pennsylvania 35 counties
- South Carolina 7 counties
- Tennessee 45 counties
- Virginia 74 counties
- West Virginia 29 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual
- Mature height
- 1.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.8 to 6.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −18°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 160
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- White-Gray
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- Slight
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Fumariaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- COFL3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Corydalis flavula (PLANTS symbol COFL3).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources