Southwestern Prickly Poppy

Upon closer look of the southwestern prickly poppy small spikes and serrated edges adorn the plant.

NPS/ Kenneth Ingham

These deceptively pretty poppies, sometimes called "Cowboy's Fried Egg" bloom year around. It may look like an angel, but the southwestern prickly poppy (Argemone pleiacantha) bites like the devil. Below those alluring petals, soft and wrinkled as crepe paper, lurks a thick, bristling coat of spines. These prickles keep most predators at bay. Insistent foragers, however, encounter the risky substances coursing through the poppy's tissues. Berberine and protopine flow through its ducts. These are chemicals that cause blood vessels to dilate, tissues to swell and fluid to fill the body. If an animal or person eats too much poppy, they could suffer from severe bloating and even death.

Pollinators often visit the three-inch-wide ivory cups of the southwestern prickly poppy. They come to investigate the bright gold stamens packed tightly inside the flower's perfect center. Dipping in and out of the blooms, pollinators help with the process of creating new seeds by moving pollen within the flower itself and to other poppies nearby.

 

A moth helps pollinate the southwestern prickly poppy while collecting nectar for itself.

NPS/ Kenneth Ingham