Flora of North America species comparison

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Papaver californicum

fire poppy, western poppy
Habit Plants to 6.5 dm, glabrate or sparsely pilose.
Stems

simple or branching.
Leaves

to 15 cm.
Inflorescences

peduncle glabrous or sparsely pilose.
Flowers

petals light orange or orange-red, with pink-edged, greenish basal spot, to 2.5 cm;

anthers yellow;

stigmas 4-8(-11), disc conic, usually umbonate.
Capsules

sessile, ellipsoid to obovoid-turbinate, distinctly ribbed, to 1.8 cm.
2n

= 28.

Papaver californicum
Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Chaparral and oak woodlands, especially in grassy areas, clearings, burns and other disturbed sites
Elevation 0-900 m (0-3000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Papaver californicum grows in central western and southwestern California in the Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular ranges. This is the only caulescent poppy, and the only annual one, native to the flora. In the past it has been included in Papaver sect. Rhoeadium, together with the other annuals that have glabrous capsules and distal leaves not clasping, which are native to Eurasia. Recently, based on differences in filament color, stigmatic disc shape, and capsule dehiscence, J. W. Kadereit (1988b) assigned P. californicum to a new monotypic section and suggested that it originated from the same stock as the perennial, scapose, arctic-alpine poppies (Papaver sect. Meconella).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Papaveraceae > Papaver > sect. Californicum
Sibling taxa
P. alboroseum, P. argemone, P. dubium, P. gorodkovii, P. hybridum, P. lapponicum, P. macounii, P. mcconnellii, P. nudicaule, P. orientale, P. pygmaeum, P. radicatum, P. rhoeas, P. somniferum, P. walpolei
Synonyms P. lemmonii
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 22: 313. (1887)
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).



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