GLAUCIUM CORNICULATUM

Family and Genus:- See- PAPAVERACEAE

Common Names:- Red horned-poppy

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Glaucium (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides for the colour of the latex which is grey-green.

Corniculatum (L) Having small horn- or spur-like appendages.

General description:- Glaucous annual herb, rarely biennial.

Stems:-

1) 10-35 cm tall.

Leaves:-

1) Lyrate-pinnatifid, with coarsely serrate segments, ± glaucous, sparsely pilose

a) basal, petiolate.

b) upper, sessile.

Flowers:-

1) Solitary, terminal or axillary.

2) Buds, nodding, ellipsoid to narrowly ovoid, pubescent.

3) Petals, up to 3(-4) cm, obovate, reddish or rarely yellow, usually with a blackish-

purple, yellow-margined blotch at the base.

4) Stamens, with dark

a) anthers, dark

b) filaments, yellow.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule linear, 9-20 cm, mostly appressed-pubescent.

Key features:-

1) Petals, 2-3 cm, orange or reddish.

2) Capsule, appressed-pubescent.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Margins of cultivated fields, roadsides, olive groves, occasionally in dry

open shrubby vegetation. 0-800 m.

Distribution:- Limited distribution in the Aegean, but a widespread species in the

Mediterranean region and beyond. On Crete confined to a coastal area east of

Ierapetra and a west central region on the south coast. Not common.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to early June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton