Meconopsis, Vig., Hist. Nat. Pavots

Xiao, Wei & Simpson, Beryl B., 2017, A New Infrageneric Classification of Meconopsis (Papaveraceae) Based on a Well-supported Molecular Phylogeny, Systematic Botany (Basel, Switzerland) 42 (2), pp. 226-233 : 230

MECONOPSIS Vig., Hist. Nat. Pavots : 48. Jan 1814 ( Papaver), nom. cons. prop. ( Grey-Wilson 2012).

— TYPE: Meconopsis regia G. Taylor , typ. cons. prop. ( Grey-Wilson 2012).

Herbs, monocarpic or polycarpic, with yellow or white latex; roots taproots or fibrous, or both. Leaves cauline and in basal rosettes or only in basal rosettes with the rosette leaves evergreen or senescing in winter, petiolated or sessile; lamina ovate, obovate, elliptic, oblong, oblanceolate, nearly linear, pinnatifid, pinnatisect, rarely bipinnatifid or bipinnate; margin entire, serrate, sinuate, lobed, or deeply divided. Flowers solitary, borne on basal scapes, or flowers arranged in raceme-like or panicle-like cymes; bracts leafy or reduced. Calyx caducous; sepals normally 2, occasionally 3 or 4 (particularly in terminal flowers). Corolla large and showy, often saucer- to bowl-shaped; petals commonly 4–8, rarely more than 12. Stamens numerous; filaments filiform, occasionally dilated; anthers commonly yellow to orange, but changing colors with age. Ovary superior, subspherical, ovate, or obovate to narrowly subcylindric; locule normally 1 with 3–6 fused carpels, ovules numerous; style often distinct but short, usually less than 1/2 of the ovary length, occasionally inconspicuous, sometimes basally expanding into a disk covering the top of ovary; stigma usually capitate or clavate, occasionally star-shaped with 3–9 stigmatic rays variously decurrent on style. Fruit a subspherical, ovate, obovate, or elliptic to subcylindrical capsule, dehiscing septicidally by 3–9 valves from apex to base usually for a short distance or occasionally to near the base. Seeds many, reniform, falcate-oblong, or elliptic-oblong; testa most commonly reticulated or corrugated, sometimes papillose. Chromosome number: 2 n 5 14, 22, 28, 56, 74, 76, 82, 84, 118, 120, 164; x 5 7.

KEY TO SECTIONS

1. Monocarpic perennials. Basal rosette persistent through winter.................................................... 1. M. sect. Meconopsis

1. Polycarpic perennials, or monocarpic biennials or perennials. Leaves deciduous during the winter....................................... 2

2. Plants usually densely hirsute with barbellate trichomes, often bearing a dense tuft of persistent leaf bases interspersed with dense barbellate bristles. Root-system fibrous or with slender taproot, or with a combination of the two...................................... 4. M. sect. Grandes

2. Plants glabrous to densely bristly with non-barbellate trichomes, often with simple sharp bristles, lacking persistent leaf bases or, if leaf-bases present, plants never densely bristly at the base. Root consisting of a taproot only.................................................. 3

3. Plants armed with dense to sparse sharp bristles, or rarely subglabrous. Taproot usually stout and elongated (exceeding 7 cm in length). Upper cauline leaves noticeably reduced in size relative to lower cauline leaves and basal leaves. Petals normally blue or purple-violet, rarely red, white, or yellow; when blue, usually more than 6 flowers per plant........................................................... 4

4. Basal leaves usually lanceolate to elliptic-oblanceolate or oblanceolate; entire, pinnatilobate, or rarely pinnatisect or pinnaticompound at the margin; basally attenuating into petiole............................................................... 2. M. sect. Aculeatae

4. Basal leaves narrowly oblong to narrowly lanceolate; more or less sinuate at the margin; tapering at the base into a long flattened petiole.................................................................... 3. Meconopsis sinuata ( M. sect. Primulinae)

3. Plants usually sparsely vestitured with weak trichomes or subglabrous. Taproot usually slender (less than 7 cm in length). Upper cauline leaves usually similar in size to the lower leaves.Petals usually pale blue to pale purple-blue,sometimes yellow or white; but never bright purple-violet; when blue, usually fewer than 5 flowers per plant........................................................ 3. M. sect. Primulinae