Yellow-juiced Poppy - Papaver lecoqii

Alternative names
Papaver dubium ssp. lecoqii
Description

Visually identical to Long-headed Poppy (Paper dubium) and was treated as a subspecies (Papaver dubium ssp. Lecoqii) until the publication of new names and taxa in the third edition of Stace which changed it to Papaver lecoqii. The test for Papaver lecoqii is to break and squeeze the stem so that the juice becomes visible. In Papaver lecoqii this is quite a bright yellow, although it may need 30 second or so to become obvious - (the juice is white in Papaver dubium).

Similar Species

all other small red poppies; especially P dubium

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

Seed capsules long and narrow (more than twice as long as wide).  Yellowish sap or latex, when fresh - break stem to see this. Anthers often yellowish

Recording advice

Photo of seed capsules, and fresh latex oozing from broken stem.  Cannot be identified from a photo just of the flower

Habitat

Disturbed ground of any type.

When to see it

June to August.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Fairly widespread in Britain, particularly in southern central England.

VC55 Status

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland though easily overlooked. The Flora of Leicestershire published in 1988 states that it occurred in 23 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Alien (archaeophyte) and Occasional

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Yellow-juiced Poppy
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Ranunculales
Family:
Papaveraceae
Records on NatureSpot:
6
First record:
16/06/2017 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
20/05/2023 (Pugh, Dylan)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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