Taxonomy
Family: Papaveraceae
Habitat
Rocky banks or sandy soil.
Associates
Distribution
Quebec to AK, south to PA, MI, northern IL, MN, and widespread and more common in the western U.S.
Morphology
Biennial or annual; stems prostrate-ascending, 20-50 cm, sympodial; racemes dense, 1-3 cm, often surpassed by the upper leaves; bracts lanceolate; sepals broadly ovate, 1.5-2 mm, erose; corollas yellow, 13-16 mm including the 4-5 mm spur; outer petals folded distally along the median line into a conspicuous but wingless keel; fruit smooth, spreading or drooping, 1.5-2.5 cm; seeds about 2 mm wide.
Notes
Flowers May to July
Wetland indicator: NA
Plants in the northeast are ssp. aurea which produces slender capsules that are pendent or spreading at maturity and seeds without a marginal ring.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of
Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Michael Hough © 2018 |