Appearance
It is an herbaceous annual plant, which grows weakly erect and scrambling, with stalks about 10 to 50 cm long. Its pink 7 to 9 mm flowers appear from April to October in the northern hemisphere. They are two lipped and spurred, with sepals running a quarter the length of the petals. The fruit is an achene. It contains alkaloids, potassium salts, and tannins. It is also a major source of fumaric acid.
Naming
The "smoky" or "fumy" origin of its name comes from the translucent color of its flowers, giving them the appearance of smoke or of hanging in smoke, and the slightly gray-blue haze color of its foliage, also resembling smoke coming from the ground, especially after morning dew.The plant was already called ' in the early 13th century, and two thousand years ago, Dioscorides wrote in ' and Pliny the Elder in ' that rubbing the eyes with the sap or latex of the plant causes tears, like acrid smoke does to the eyes.
Its Greek name is "kapnos" and the name "fumewort" now applies mostly to the genus "Corydalis", especially the similar looking Corydalis solida, which was thought to belong to the same genus as fumitory.
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