野罂粟 ye ying su

Papaver alpinum Linnaeus lusus chinense Regel; P. chinense (Regel) Kitagawa; P. croceum Ledebour; P. croceum subsp. chinense (Regel) Rändel; P. nudicaule var. chinense (Regel) Fedde; P. nudicaule var. corydalifolium Fedde; P. nudicaule var. isopyroides Fedde; P. nudicaule subsp. rubroaurantiacum (Fischer ex Candolle) Fedde; P. nudicaule var. saxatile Kitagawa; P. nudicaule var. subcorydalifolium Fedde; P. rubroaurantiacum Fischer ex Candolle; P. tenellum Tolmatchew.

Herbs, perennial, 20-60 cm tall, very variable. Taproot terete, extended, upper part 2-5 mm in diam., attenuate or fusiform toward base; rootstock short, thickened, usually simple. Stems very short or apparently absent. Leaves tufted, all basal; petiole (1-)5-12 cm, basally ampliate to sheath, inclined-setose; blade slightly glaucous on both surfaces, ovate to lanceolate, 3-8 cm, both surfaces densely or sparsely gray setose, rarely nearly glabrous, pinnatilobate, pinnatipartite, or pinnatisect; lobes 2-4 pairs, entire or pinnatilobate or pinnatipartite again; lobules narrowly ovate, narrowly lanceolate, or oblong, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded. Scapes 1 to several, erect, terete, densely or sparsely inclined compressed-setose. Flowers solitary, terminal, scapose, cup-shaped, 4-6 cm in diam. Flower buds usually nutant, broadly ovoid to globose, 1.5-2 cm, densely brown setose. Sepals 2, caducous, corymbiform-elliptic. Petals 4, yellowish, yellow, or orange, rarely red, broadly cuneate or obovate, (1.5-)2-3 cm, basally shortly clawed, margin undulate-crenate. Stamens many; filaments yellow or olivine, subulate, 6-10 mm; anthers yellow-white, yellow, or rarely reddish, oblong, 1-2 mm. Ovary obovoid to narrowly obovoid, 5-10 mm, densely appressed setose; stigmas 4-8, actinomorphic. Capsule narrowly obovoid, obovoid, or obovoid-oblong, 1-1.7 cm, densely appressed whitish- or red-brown setose, slightly broadly 4-8-costate; stigma disk flat, distantly incised-crenate. Seeds many, brown, almost reniform, small, striate with alveolate foveolae. Fl. May-Sep. 2n = 14, 28*, 42.

Forest margins, grasslands, grassy steppes, slopes, meadows, valleys, river gravel, moraines, roadsides; (200-)1000-2500(-3500) m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, W Hubei, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, E Sichuan, Xinjiang; cultivated in many provinces [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia (including Siberia), Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].

Cultivated plants, commonly referred to as "Iceland poppies," are of complex origin involving several other closely related species, including Papaver radicatum Rottbøll.

This is a very variable species, with a number of variants recognized at the rank of forma, including plants with petals yellow or orange, ovary and capsule setose (Papaver nudicaule f. nudicaule, distribution as for the species); similar characters but petals white (P. nudicaule f. seticarpum (P. Y. Fu) H. Chuang, recorded from Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Nei Mongol); petals yellow or orange, ovary and capsule glabrous (P. nudicaule var. aquilegioides Fedde, recorded from Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, W Hubei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and E Sichuan); and same characters but petals white (P. nudicaule f. amurense (N. Busch) H. Chuang, recorded from Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Nei Mongol).