ARGEMONE
Argemone L., Sp. Pl. ed.1: 508. 1753; Gen. Pl. 5: 225. 1754; DC., Prodr. 1: 120. 1824; Benth. & Hook. f., Gen. Pl. 1(1): 52. 1862; Boiss., Fl. Or. 1: 105; 1867; Hook. f. & Thoms. in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 117. 1875; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb. 1: 28. 1958 (Reprint ed.); Zhang & Grey-Wilson, Fl. China @ eFloras.org 7: 262; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 7: 262.
Annual, biennial or perennial herb, usually stout, spiny, with yellow latex. Stem mostly erect, branched. Leaves pinnate, lobes repand, dentate, teeth apically spiny. Flowers solitary, terminal or arranged in cymes, bright yellow, rarely whitish or white; receptacle narrowly conical. Flower buds erect. Sepals 2-3, free, valvate, caducous. Petals 4-6, in 2 whorls, obovate, caducous, contorted or imbricate in bud. Stamens many, free, filaments filiform, anthers basifixed, extrorse. Carpels 4- 6, ovary ovate-oblong, unilocular, ovules many, borne on 4-6 parietal placentae; style very short or obscure; stigma actinomorphic, radiating, 4-6 lobed, lobes opposite the placentae. Capsule ellipsoid, prickly, dehiscing by 3-6 short valves at top, rarely parting near to base. Seeds many, spherical.
33 species
Argemone maxicana
Argemone maxicana L., Sp. Pl. ed.1: 508. 1753; DC., Prodr. 1: 120. 1824; Hook. f. & Thoms. in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 117. 1875; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb. 1: 28. 1958 (Reprint ed.); Collett, Fl. Siml. ed. 2: 24. 1921(Reprint 1983); Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 7. 1983; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur 131.2004.
A prickly glabrous, glaucous (bluish green) annual herb, 30-120 cm tall, usually stout. Stem erect, branched, with yellow sap, prickly. Leaves alternate, glaucous, with midrib and veins white, sessile, semi amplexicaul, 5-25 cm x 2-8 cm, elliptic-oblong, broadly lanceolate or elliptic, pinnatifid to pinnatipartite, lobes undulate dentate, teeth apically spiny, spinous veins white, apex acute. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, yellow, 3-8 cm across, solitary terminal on short leafy branches, sometimes in few-flowered cymes. Pedicel very short; flowers subtended by 2-3 foliaceous bracts. Sepals 3, free, imbricate, 8-12 mm x 5-7 mm, ovate, with an acute terete horn below or at the apex, very sparsely prickly outside, concave, caducous. Petals 4 or 6, in 2 whorls, imbricate, broadly obovate, 2.5-3.5 cm x 1.5-2.5 cm, bright yellow, more or less crumpled in bud. Stamens many, free; filaments 8-12 mm long; anthers ca. 2 mm long, narrowly oblong, curved/ coiled after flowering. Ovary ovate, elliptic or oblong, 8-10 mm x 3-5 mm, prickly, unilocular, ovules many, borne on 4-6 parietal placentas; stigma sessile, red, 4-6 lobed, lobes usually broad. Capsule oblong or elliptic-oblong, 2.5-4 cm x 1.2-2 cm, with 4-6 rounded ribs, glabrous but covered with sharp erect prickles; dehiscing by 4-6 valves from apex to 1/4-1/3 of length. Seeds many, +/- globose, 1.5-2 mm in diameter, with fine conspicuous tuberculae.
Common Names: Mexican Prickly Poppy, Prickly Poppy, Mexican Poppy, Flowering Thistle, Cardo or Cardosanto, Yellow Mexican Poppy
