MEXICAN GOLDPOPPY
[21.] Pricklepoppy
Not restricted to a desert habitat, this spiny-leafed perennial is widespread on dry soils from Nebraska to Wyoming and from Texas to southern California and Mexico. Abundant throughout the summer, the flowers may be found, in warm climates, during every month of the year. Copious spines and the acrid yellow sap make the plants distasteful to cattle, so a heavy growth of pricklepoppy may be an indicator of an overgrazed range. Also called “thistlepoppy,” a single plant may be graced by a dozen or more fragile flowers, each ready to be replaced by one or more prickly buds. The seeds are said to contain a powerful narcotic.
Argemone platyceras Poppy Family
PRICKLEPOPPY
[22.] Evening-primrose
Also known as “yellow cups,” this plant is limited in its range to the Mohave-Colorado Desert. Having smaller blossoms than the goldpoppy with which it might be confused, this showy annual blooms March to May in dry washes and on stony hills below 4,500 feet. The foot-high plants sometimes form massed displays accented by splashes of bright red where clumps of beavertail pricklypear mark small, rocky islands, or where patches of ocotillos wave their scarlet-tipped wands in the spring breeze.
Oenothera brevipes Evening-primrose Family