Windpoppy

The wind poppy is a delicate, bright orange flower, 6-18 inches in height. The flowers, borne on long, leafless stalks, have four gorgeous crinkled petals that are a stunning reddish-orange color. Each silky petal has a maroon spot at the base, near the center circle of pollen bearing stems. The inconspicuous deeply cleft leaves, which populate the stem’s base, are dark green.

Basic Information

• Member of the Papaveraceae, or poppy, family

• Annual herb

Habitat

• Native to the San Francisco Bay Area south to northern Baja California, Mexico

• Found in the open grassy areas or in rich, loamy soil of the chaparral, oak woodland, and grassland habitats

Ecological Role

• The wind poppies rarely seed in the wild except after wildfires, as the the seeds’ germination is cued by heat, smoke, and charred wood

Reproduction

• Blooms from March to May

Alternative Names

• Formerly known by the scientific name Stylomecon heterophylla