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.

STYLOMECON

Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Greek: style poppy)

Native

S. heterophylla (Benth.) G.C. Taylor

WIND POPPY

Annual 30–60 cm; sap yellow, clear
Leaves basal and cauline, 2–12 cm, deeply pinnately lobed, glabrous to hairy, petioled; 1° lobes toothed or lobed
Inflorescence: flowers solitary, axillary; peduncle 5–20 cm
Flower: sepals 2, 4–10 mm, shed at flower; petals 4, free, 10–20 mm, wedge-shaped, orange-red, base purple-spotted, shed after pollination; stamens many, free; placentas 4–11, style 1, slender, stigma head-like, lobes 4–11
Fruit 1–2 cm, obconic to obovate, dehiscent by flaps below tip
Seeds many, 0.4 mm, reniform, roughly net-ridged, brown or black
Ecology: Grassy areas, openings in chaparral
Elevation: < 1200 m.
Bioregional distribution: s Northwestern California, s Sierra Nevada Foothills, San Joaquin Valley, Central Western California, Southwestern California
Distribution outside California: n Baja California
Horticultural information: DRN, DRY: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; CVS.