Papaver radicatum
Papaver californicum
arctic poppy, iceland poppy, Macoun's poppy, root poppy
fire poppy, western poppy
simple or branching.
to 12 cm;
petiole 2/3 length of leaf;
blade green on both surfaces, not glaucous, lanceolate, 1-2x-lobed with 2-3(-4) pairs of primary lateral lobes;
primary lobes broadly lanceolate or strap-shaped, apex obtuse to acute.
to 15 cm.
scapes erect or bowed and decumbent, less than 15 cm, sparsely to densely hispid.
peduncle glabrous or sparsely pilose.
to 6.5 cm diam.;
petals yellow or white, rarely pink tinged, or brick red;
anthers yellow;
stigmas 4-7, disc convex.
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.
obovoid to subglobose, 1-2.5 times longer than broad, strigose, trichomes light to dark brown or black.
sessile, ellipsoid to obovoid-turbinate, distinctly ribbed, to 1.8 cm.
= 28.
Papaver radicatum
Papaver californicum
Subspecies numerous (4 in the flora).
Many infraspecific taxa have been named from throughout the extensive range of this extremely variable species. Within North America, the following broadly circumscribed subspecies are generally, but not always, distinguishable.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
1. Scapes densely hispid with dark trichomes; capsules with dark brown trichomes. | subsp. polare |
1. Scapes hispid with light-colored trichomes (sometimes dark brown in subsp. alaskanum); capsules with light to dark brown trichomes. | → 2 |
2. Flowers 2 cm diam. or less; capsules ellipsoid-subglobose to oblong-obconic; Rocky Mountain system from Alaska and Yukon southward. | subsp. kluanense |
2. Flowers mostly greater than 2 cm diam.; capsules broadly obovoid to ellipsoid; Aleutian Islands n, e across arctic Alaska and Canada to Greenland. | → 3 |
3. Capsule trichomes generally with abruptly thickened bases; Aleutian Islands, islands of the Bering Strait and w coast of Alaska. | subsp. alaskanum |
3. Capsule trichomes generally without thickened bases; w, n Alaska e to Canada and Greenland. | subsp. radicatum |
BC
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
CA
