Meconopsis sarsonsii

Description

Family Papaveraceae

Herbs or subshrubs , shrubs , or small trees , annual , biennial, or perennial , scapose or caulescent , usually from taproots , sometimes from rhizomes; sap clear, white, or colored , often sticky. Stems leafy or naked, erect , spreading , or decumbent , simple or branching. Leaves basal and/or cauline, alternate to opposite or whorled , simple, without stipules, petiolate or sessile; blade unlobed or with 1-3 odd-pinnate, subpalmate, or palmate orders of lobes . Inflorescences axillary or terminal , unifloral or else multifloral and cymiform, racemose, umbelliform, corybiform, or paniculate , pedunculate or subsessile ; bracts usually present. Flowers radially symmetric , pedicellate or sessile; receptacle sometimes expanded and forming cup or ring beneath calyx (only in Eschscholzia, Meconella, and Platystemon ) ; perianth and androecium sometimes perigynous; sepals caducous , 2 or 3, distinct or connate , usually obovate ; petals distinct, usually obovate, mostly 2 times number of sepals, sometimes more or absent; stamens many or 4-15 (only in Meconella and Canbya ) ; anthers 2-locular; pistil 1, 2-18[-22]-carpellate; ovary 1-2-locular or incompletely to completely multilocular by placental intrusion; placentas 2 or more, parietal ; style 1 or absent; stigmas or stigma lobes 2-many. Fruits capsular , dehiscence valvate , poricidal , or transverse , or carpels dissociating and breaking transversely into 1-seeded segments (only in Platystemon ) . Seeds usually many, small, sometimes arillate or carunculate.

Genera 25-30 (17 genera, 63 species in the flora ) : worldwide, mainly Northern Hemisphere.

According to W. R. Ernst (1962b), Papaveraceae "may be divided conveniently into four subfamilies." His scheme is followed here, but with the subfamilies taken up in alphabetic order; they seem to be natural groups, but their phylogenetic interrelationships are not yet clear. Similarly, the evolutionary relationships within the subfamilies remain ambiguous, and the genera in each are listed alphabetically. Subfamily Chelidonioideae Ernst includes genera 1-5; subf. Eschscholzioideae Ernst, genera 6-7; subf. Papavaroideae Ernst, genera 8-14; and subf. Platostamenoideae Ernst, genera 15-17.Robert W. Kiger "Papaveraceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Genus Meconopsis

Perennial , often prickly, simple or rarely branched, often tall and robust herbs with yellow latex. Leaves entire or lobed , radical stalked, cauline sessile or subsessile . Inflorescence solitary, racemed, pseudo-racemed or panicled . Flowers often large, showy, blue, yellow or purplish-red. Sepals 2(-4), usually caducous , valvate . Petals 4 (often varying from 5-10), free , obovate to broadly ovate . Stamens many, multiseriate; filament filiform ; anthers often oblong . Carpels many, fused, superior, with unilocular , ellipsoid to subglobose ovary; ovules many on parietal placentae projecting into the ovary; style distinct , often short; stigma rays 5-6, radiating and forming a globular mass over the ovary. Capsule ovoid , oblong, clavate or cylindrical, 1-celled, dehiscing by short slits at the apex or sometimes splitting almost to the base of the fruit. Seeds many, small, rugose .

About 45 species, distributed in West Europe, India, West Pakistan, Upper Burma and West China; represented in West Pakistan by 3 species."Meconopsis". in Flora of Pakistan Page 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Biology

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Taxonomy

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Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: euphyllophytina ()
        Infraphylum: radiatopses () - kenrick & crane, 1997
        Class: Magnoliopsida () - Brongniart, 1843 - Dicotyledons
        Subclass: Ranunculidae () - Takhtajan ex Reveal, 1992
        Superorder: Ranunculanae () - Takhtajan ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Papaverales () - Dumortier, 1829
        Family: Papaveraceae () - Adans., 1763, nom. cons. - Poppy Family
        Genus: Meconopsis () - Vig., Hist. Pavots Argem. 48. 1814.
        Specific epithet: sarsonsii - Hort.
        Botanical name: - Meconopsis sarsonsii Hort.

Notes

Publishing author : Hort. Publication : ex Gard. Chron. 1930, Ser. III. lxxxvii. 414; et Gen. Meconopsis, 1930, Ser.III. lxxxviii. 11; et Gen. Meconopsis, 1935, Ser. III. xcvii. 433.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Meconopsis

There are approximately 197 species in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

Bibliography

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Ernst, W. R. 1962. A Comparative Morphology of the Papaveraceae. Ph.D. dissertation. Stanford University.
Ernst, W. R. 1962b. The genera of Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 43: 315-343.
Ernst, W. R. 1967. Floral morphology and systematics of Platystemon and its allies Hesperomecon and Meconella (Papaveraceae: Platystemonoideae). Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 47: 25-70.
Fedde, F. 1936. Papaveraceae. In: H. G. A. Engler et al., eds. 1924+. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, ed. 2. 26+ vols. Leipzig and Berlin. Vol. 17b, pp. 5-145.
Fedde, F. 1909. Papaveraceae-Hypecoideae et Papaveraceae-Papaveroideae. In: H. G. A. Engler, ed. 1900-1953. Das Pflanzenreich. 107 vols. Berlin. Vol. 40[IV,104], pp. 1-430.
Grey-Wilson, C. 1993. Poppies: A Guide to the Poppy Family in the Wild and in Cultivation. Portland.
Gunn, C. R. 1980. Seeds and fruits of Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae. Seed Sci. Techn. 8: 3-58.
Gunn, C. R. and M. J. Seldin. 1976. Seeds and Fruits of North American Papaveraceae. Washington. [U.S.D.A. Agric. Res. Serv., Techn. Bull. 1517.]
Harms, H. 1936. Reihe Rhoeadales. In: H. G. A. Engler et al., eds. 1924+. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, ed. 2. 26+ vols. Leipzig and Berlin. Vol. 17b, pp. 1-4.
Hutchinson, J. 1925. Contributions towards a phylogenetic classification of flowering plants: V. The genera of Papaveraceae. Bull. Misinform. Kew 1925: 161-168.
Kadereit, J. W. 1993. Papaveraceae. In: K. Kubitzki et al., eds. 1990+. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. 2+ vols. Berlin etc. Vol. 2, pp. 494-506.
Stermitz, F. R. 1968. Alkaloid chemistry and the systematics of Papaver and Argemone. Recent Advances Phytochem. 1: 161-183.