North American Prickly Poppy Gardens: Pretty, Prolific, Toxic, Weedy

Summary: North American prickly poppy gardens look best on problem soils away from crops and livestock susceptible to their prickly, prolific, toxic weediness.

closeup of prickly poppy's flower and foliage; Makawao, northeastern slope of Haleakala, northeastern Maui; Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 13:21:55; image #080415-4031: Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

North American prickly poppy gardens acquire weedy footholds in cereal, corn, cotton, potato and sugarcane fields and accost cattle, horses, people, poultry and sheep with the toxins berberine and protopine in sap.

The herbaceous native tropical American annual in the Papaveraceae family of poppy-related herbs and shrubs breaks down crop yields, environmental well-being, public health and species diversity. No North American federal, provincial or state government considers it or related eastern Mediterranean European, North African and southwest Asian corn poppy and Eurasian celandine weedy. Celandine (Chelidonium majus), shade-tolerant and toxic to livestock, displaces native vegetation while corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) decreases annual crop and winter wheat yields by 43 percent.

Only yellow hornpoppy (Glaucium flavum), east European and southwest Asian native to the Black Sea and Caucasus Mountains, endures sanctions enacted by the Massachusetts state government.

The seedling stage furnishes prickly poppy with linear, 0.59- to 1.38-inch- (15- to 35-millimeter-) long, 0.04- to 0.12-inch- (1- to 3-millimeter-) wide embryonic leaves, called cotyledons.

The first leaf stages give prickly poppy, commonly named Mexican prickly poppy, Mexican thistle and yellow prickly poppy, wedge-shaped foliage with paired, two- to three-toothed margins. Mature, 2.36- to 7.88-inch- (6- to 20-centimeter-) long, 1.18- to 3.15-inch- (3- to 8-centimeter-) wide foliage has clasping, prickly, uneven-toothed margins and prickly margins and undersides. It is alternate-arranged, blue-green, stalked in basal, lower leaves and stalkless in upper foliage on blue-green, 11.81- to 39.37-inch- (30- to 100-centimeter-) tall, prickly, thistle-like stems.

Flowering stages join the toxic berberine- and protopine-filled yellow sap of leaves and stems during March to July bloom times in North American prickly poppy gardens.

Prickly poppy, described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) and named Argemone mexicana (Mexican cataract [cure]), knows bright to pale yellow flowers.

Each fragrant, perfect, regular, showy, solitary flower loads globe-shaped, somewhat prickled, 0.39- to 0.59-inch- (10- to 15-millimeter-) long, 0.35- to 0.51-inch- (9- to 13-millimeter-) wide buds. Each bloom, maintained by one modified leaflike structure called a bract or by two flower-protecting bracts, measures 1.58 to 2.76 inches (4 to 7 centimeters) across. One pistil with dark red, three- to six-lobed stigma nudges two to three prickly sepals, three two-whorled oblong to oval petals and 30 to 50 stamens.

North American prickly poppy gardens obtain 60 to 90 dry, explosive, 300- to 400-seeded capsules with 0.24- to 0.39-inch- (6- to 10-millimeter-) long prickles per plant.

Fruiting 0.79- to 1.77-inch- (2- to 4.5-centimeter-) long capsules, each 0.47 to 0.79 inches (12 to 20 millimeters) across, produce black to brown, fine-lined, globe-shaped seeds.

Arils qualify as red-colored, supplementary seed-coatings on all of a large prickly poppy plant's 3,600 seeds, each 0.06 to 0.08 inches (1.5 to 2 millimeters) across. Twenty-four days of dry storage at temperatures that range between 39.2 and 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit (4 and 32 degrees Celsius) result in germinated prickly poppy seed. Prickly poppy and related Eurasian celandine support unknown in-soil seed viabilities that the known in-soil viability of corn poppy suggests as 13 percent after 26 years.

North American prickly poppy gardens treat problem soils and unpopular sites to pretty, prickly, prolific, toxic, weedy ground covers that thwart ground reflection and surface runoff.

prickly poppy (Argemone mexicana) in non-native habitat; Paia, northeastern coastal Maui; April 29, 2009, 12:09:17; image #090429-6532: Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of prickly poppy's flower and foliage; Makawao, northeastern slope of Haleakala, northeastern Maui; Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 13:21:55; image #080415-4031: Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24788898212/

prickly poppy (Argemone mexicana) in non-native habitat; Paia, northeastern coastal Maui; Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 12:09:17; image #090429-6532: Forest and Kim Starr (Starr Environmental), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/starr-environmental/24834917582/; Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 4.0 International, via Starr Environmental @ http://www.starrenvironmental.com/images/image/?q=24834917582

For further information:

"Argemone mexicana L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/24000115

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "1. Argemone mexicana." Species Plantarum, vol. I: 508-509. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358527

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.