PAPAVERACEAE

POPPY FAMILY

Curtis Clark

Annual to small tree; sap often colored, often milky
Leaves basal, cauline, or both, generally toothed, lobed, or dissected; cauline generally alternate; stipules 0
Inflorescence: cyme, raceme, or panicle (terminal), or flower solitary
Flower bisexual, generally radial; sepals 2–4, sometimes shed ± at flower; petals generally 4 or 6 (or more), sometimes in 2 unlike pairs; stamens 4–many; ovary generally 1, superior, chamber generally 1, stigma lobes 0–many, ovules 1–many
Fruit: generally capsule, dehiscent by valves or pores, generally septicidal
Genera in family: 40 genera, 400 sp.: n temp, n tropical, s Africa; some cultivated (Papaver, Dicentra, Eschscholzia ). Petal length includes any spur or pouch. Hunnemannia fumariifolia Sweet (Eschscholzia-like garden per with free sepals) an uncommon waif in CA. Corydalis, Dicentra, Fumaria formerly treated in Fumariaceae.

CANBYA

Annual; sap colorless
Leaves ± basal, linear-oblong, entire
Inflorescence: flowers solitary, terminal
Flower: sepals 3; petals 6, free, elliptic, white, persistent after pollination; stamens 6–9, free; placentas 3, style 0, stigma lobes 3, linear, radiating from below ovary top
Fruit ovate, dehiscent from tip
Seeds many, shiny, brown
Species in genus: 2 species: CA, OR, NV
Etymology: (W.M. Canby, Delaware botanist, 1831–1904)

Native

C. candida A. Gray

Plant 10–30 mm, tufted, ± glabrous
Leaf 5–9 mm, fleshy
Inflorescence: peduncle 10–20 mm
Flower: petals 3–4 mm, closing over fruit
Fruit 2–2.5 mm
Seed 0.6 mm
Ecology: Sandy places
Elevation: 600–1200 m.
Bioregional distribution: w Mojave Desert, adjacent Sierra Nevada
Flowering time: Apr–May
Horticultural information: TRY.