Papaver radicatum
Papaver dubium
arctic poppy, iceland poppy, Macoun's poppy, root poppy
blind eyes, long-head poppy, long-pod 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 20 cm.
scapes erect or bowed and decumbent, less than 15 cm, sparsely to densely hispid.
peduncle proximally spreading-hispid, distally appressed-hispid.
to 6.5 cm diam.;
petals yellow or white, rarely pink tinged, or brick red;
anthers yellow;
stigmas 4-7, disc convex.
petals orange to red, rarely with dark basal spot, to 3 cm;
anthers violet;
stigmas 7-9, disc ± flat.
obovoid to subglobose, 1-2.5 times longer than broad, strigose, trichomes light to dark brown or black.
sessile or substipitate, narrowly obovoid, usually distinctly ribbed, to 2 cm, 2 times or more longer than broad.
Papaver radicatum
Papaver dubium
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.)
In its native range, Papaver dubium is a tetraploid complex of five subspecies whose morphologies and distributions intersect to a considerable degree (J. W. Kadereit 1989, 1990). Probably several, if not all, of these entities have been introduced in North America, but it is fruitless to try to distinguish them here, where the species has arrived as a crop weed and the subspecies have no geographic integrity.
Papaver dubium sometimes seems to intergrade with P. rhoeas, at least in North America. The most readily evident character for distinguishing them reliably is the nature of the distal pubescence on the peduncles–whether spreading or appressed.
(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 |
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
