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PRICKLY POPPY

• Common Name(s): Prickly Poppy, Mexican Poppy, Thistle Poppy, Chicalote
• Scientific Name: Argemone munita
• Family: Papaveraceae, Poppy family
• Plant Type: Perennial or Annual herb
• Size: 3 to 5 feet tall, 1 to 2 feet wide
• Common Habitat: dry, sandy soil or gravel

This plant had me fooled when I photographed it - one look at its inflorescense and I thought I was looking at Matilija poppy. While the flowers are definitely similar, the spiny foliage of the prickly poppy should be a dead giveaway to tell these two apart. The plant has blue green leaves and stems, with spines throughout. Prickly poppy favors an especially dry habitat of sandy or gravelly soil. It commonly blooms from April through August in this area and can be a fire follower. I saw a number of these plants in Cheseboro Canyon in April 2007, a year and a half after fire swept through the area.

Prickly poppy, like Matilija poppy, has large flowers up to 5 inches in diameter, with 4 or 6 white crinkly petals and yellow centers. The seed capsule is 1 to 2 inches long.

This plant is very poisonous. Notwithstanding this, like other poisonous plants, its lore includes medicinal uses. Argemone means "cataract of the eye", and this hints at one of those uses.