Arctic Poppy Info (Papaver radicatum)   

This little guy is another close relative of P. nudicale (the familiar Iceland Poppy), but it's shorter (10 in/25 cm).  The whole plant is covered with dark brown or black hairs.  The flowers are sulfur yellow and 1-1.75 in/2.5-4 cm across.  The pod is oval and covered with bristles.  It likes to grow in the mountains, in the gravel beds of dry rivers, or in rocky high plains and is found all around the northern hemisphere, including northern Scotland, northern Canada, and the Rocky Mountains.  The blooms of this plant follow the sun, and its latex is usually yellow, so it clearly has a lot of Sun influence.  Top

How to grow Arctic Poppy: Germinate like any poppy. This plant likes it cool and prefers full sun and acidic soil of low fertility (for this plant, rich soil means lots of leaves and few flowers). This is a good rock garden perennial. General growing info Top

© 2004, 2013 Harold A. Roth; No reproduction without permission