Climate change significantly impacts plant distribution, predicting the potential suitable areas of Corydalis is useful for understanding the effects of climate change, and it is vital for the development of conservation strategy of Corydalis. Using the optimized MaxEnt model, we projected potential suitable areas for 1910 Corydalis distribution sites along with 22 environmental factors. We examined key environmental factors influencing Corydalis distribution and forecasted their effects during the last glacial maximum(LGM), the present, and future scenarios. Additionally, we forecasted the spatial distribution pattern and center-of-mass migration trends of Corydalis under two greenhouse gas(GHG) emission scenarios(SSP126 and SSP585) during the LGM, current, future, and future periods(2021-2100). Furthermore, we assessed the current conservation status of Corydalis and conducted a conservation analysis. The results indicated the following:(1) The optimized model parameters included RM=1.4 and FC=LQPT, resulting in the lowest complexity and overfitting in the MaxEnt model and high predictive accuracy with AUC=0.793.(2) The primary environmental factors affecting the distribution of Corydalis were temperature annual range(bio7), Seasonal variation coefficient of temperature(bio4), annual precipitation(bio12) and mean diurnal range(bio2). Among these, temperature was the most influential environmental factor on Corydalis distribution. (3)Corydalis currently inhabit abroad region across China, spanning the climatic zones of northern subtropics, southern subtropics, mesothermal, southern temperate, and high plateau areas. In contrast, the potential suitable area of Corydalis has fluctuated significantly, generally expanding towards plateau areas and mid-temperate regions, and the size is growing. However, with rising GHG concentrations, habitat fragmentation is becoming more severe. Center-of-mass migration results also suggest that the potential suitable area of Corydalis will shift northwestward in the future. (4) The East Himalayan region and the Hengduan Mountains region in China is crucial for Corydalis conservation. However, the nature reserve area in this region is limited and fragmented, thus conservation efforts is needed in this area,and nature reserves in northwest China should also should strengthen.