Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Eschscholzia ramosa

Eschscholzia

Channel Island poppy, Channel Islands poppy, island-poppy

California poppy, poppy
Habit Plants annual, caulescent, erect, 5-30 cm, glabrous, sometimes glaucous. Herbs, annual or perennial, scapose or caulescent, from taproots; sap colorless or clear orange.
Stems

leafy.
Leaves

basal and cauline;

blade glabrous; ultimate lobes elongate, obtuse.

alternate, basal and sometimes cauline, petiolate;

blade 1-4x pinnately deeply lobed, lobes of each order usually 3; ultimate lobes narrow.
Inflorescences

cymose or 1-flowered;

buds erect, blunt or rounded short-acuminate, tip less than 1/4 length of bud.

terminal, cymose with bracts present, or 1-flowered.
Flowers

receptacle obconic, less than 2.5 cm broad, cup without spreading free rim;

calyx acuminate, glabrous;

petals yellow, sometimes with orange spot at base, 5-20 mm.

receptacle dilated, forming cup beneath calyx, sometimes with free rim;

perianth and androecium perigynous;

sepals 2, connate, calyptrate, deciduous as unit;

petals 4, rarely more (doubled flowers), obovate to obcuneate, with satin sheen from microscopic linear grooves;

stamens 12-many;

pistil 2-carpellate;

ovary 1-locular;

style absent;

stigmas 4-8, spreading, linear.
Fruits

capsular, cylindric, 2-valved, dehiscing from base along placentas, often explosively.
Capsules

4-7 cm.

Seeds

brown, ellipsoid, 1.4-1.6 mm, reticulate.

many, tan, brown, or black, spheric to ovoid, reticulate, ridged and burlike, or pitted, aril absent.
x

= 6, 7.
2n

= 24.

Eschscholzia ramosa

Eschscholzia
Phenology Flowering spring (Apr–Jun).
Habitat Open places, especially in chaparral
Elevation 0-300 m (0-1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
nw Mexico; w North America (United States)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Within the flora area, Eschscholzia ramosa is known only from the California Channel Islands.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 12 (10 in the flora).

Eschscholzia species are introduced from cultivation elsewhere in warm-temperate regions worldwide.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Receptacular cup with spreading free rim.
E. californica
1. Receptacular cup without spreading free rim.
→ 2
2. Plants scapose; ultimate leaf lobes acute; petals yellow; calyx glabrous.
→ 3
2. Plants caulescent, with flowers borne on leafy stems (not readily apparent in young plants); ultimate leaf lobes acute or obtuse; petals yellow or orange; calyx glabrous or pubescent.
→ 4
3. Seeds burlike with raised ridges; petals 12 mm or shorter; California (Great Central Valley, Sierra Nevada foothills).
E. lobbii
3. Seeds minutely pitted, not burlike; petals usually 12 mm or longer; California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah (Mojave and Sonoran deserts).
E. glyptosperma
4. Calyx pubescent; buds nodding; leaf blades sparsely pubescent.
→ 5
4. Calyx glabrous; buds nodding or erect; leaf blades essentially glabrous, never consistently pubescent.
→ 6
5. Petals orange or deep yellow throughout, 15–40 mm; receptacles broader than 1.5 mm.
E. lemmonii
5. Petals yellow, sometimes with orange spot at base, 10–20 mm; receptacles narrower than 1.5 mm.
E. hypecoides
6. Older buds nodding.
→ 7
6. Older buds erect.
→ 8
7. Leaf blades bright green or yellow-green, terminal lobes slender, acute.
E. parishii
7. Leaf blades grayish or bluish green, terminal lobes broadened at apex, usually obtuse.
E. minutiflora
8. Receptacle somewhat swollen and translucent distally, usually broader than 2 mm.
→ 9
8. Receptacle strictly obconic, not translucent distally, narrower than 2.5 mm.
→ 10
9. Petals (15–)20 mm or more, orange or deep yellow; California (Kern County).
E. lemmonii
9. Petals 15 mm or less, yellow; inland California Coast Ranges.
E. rhombipetala
10. Flower buds blunt or rounded short-acuminate, tip less than 1/4 length of bud; ultimate leaf lobes elongate, giving diffuse appearance; California Channel Islands.
E. ramosa
10. Flower buds apiculate-acuminate, tip usually more than 1/4 length of bud; ultimate leaf lobes short, giving compact appearance; California and Oregon mainland foothills.
E. caespitosa
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Papaveraceae > Eschscholzia Papaveraceae
Sibling taxa
E. caespitosa, E. californica, E. glyptosperma, E. hypecoides, E. lemmonii, E. lobbii, E. minutiflora, E. parishii, E. rhombipetala
Subordinate taxa
E. caespitosa, E. californica, E. glyptosperma, E. hypecoides, E. lemmonii, E. lobbii, E. minutiflora, E. parishii, E. ramosa, E. rhombipetala
Synonyms E. elegans var. ramosa
Name authority (Greene) Greene: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 13: 217. (1886) Chamisso: in C. G. D. Nees, Horae Phys. Berol., 73. (1820)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers