Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Share

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
rate this answer
Not Yet Rated

Wednesday - January 16, 2013

From: Baton Rouge, LA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Herbs/Forbs, Wildflowers
Title: Where can white prickly poppy be viewed en mass from Baton Rouge LA?
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Does the center feature the native White Prickly Poppy? When is prime blooming season? Can you give me some specific locations in the area where the plant can be seen en mass and photographed? Thanks.

ANSWER:

Argemone polyanthemos (Annual pricklepoppy) (or white pricklepoppy) does not appear in the Wildflower Center Master Taxa List. This does not mean it never appears in our gardens, but perhaps the list has not been updated. We're not sure what you mean by "featured" but the gardens tend to have mixed beds with plants native to Central Texas (which the pricklypoppy is.) We do know that while they are not native to Travis County, TX, where the Wildflower Center is, they are native to Williamson County, just north of Travis.  Wildflowers do not tend to notice county boundaries so we are sure there are some growing in this area; in fact we have noticed areas where they were growing during their normal blooming times of April to October. They are annuals and will self-seed in the Fall if weather conditions have been favorable.

As for where they can be viewed and photographed, you may have to travel a little. According to this USDA Plant Profiile Map,  they do not grow natively in Louisiana at all. There might be some scattered around, but your soils and rainfall are not quite the same as those in Texas; the whole point of choosing plants native to an area is because they can grow more easily somewhere that the soils, climate and rainfall are those to which they have been accustomed by centuries. Texas is the nearest state having native pricklepoppies to Louisiana, and the nearest Texas county to East Baton Rouge Parish is Madison Co., TX, still pretty far across the state of Louisiana. If you follow this plant link, Argemone polyanthemos (Annual pricklepoppy), to our webpage on the plant, you will learn more about its growing conditions, etc. You will note that this is pretty much a plant of the Western U.S. From Colorado Wildflowers, here is a site with more information and pictures.

 

From the Image Gallery


Crested pricklypoppy
Argemone polyanthemos

Crested pricklypoppy
Argemone polyanthemos

Crested pricklypoppy
Argemone polyanthemos

Crested pricklypoppy
Argemone polyanthemos

Crested pricklypoppy
Argemone polyanthemos

Crested pricklypoppy
Argemone polyanthemos

More Herbs/Forbs Questions

Fertilizer producing leaves over flower production in Austin
June 27, 2010 - Can you please list which Central Texas perennials' will favor leaf growth over flower production when fertilized? I have many in the "Grown Green" booklet and need to know which flowering plants s...
view the full question and answer

Meadow garden for Colorado Springs CO
June 03, 2012 - We recently purchased a restored home on a mesa just above the downtown area of Colorado Springs on the front range. The previous owners seeded the front lawn with blue gramma and told me that all I ...
view the full question and answer

How to tell the difference between native and non-native thistles
March 13, 2013 - It's thistle time already. There are many plants in the aster family with thistle in their common name. Are "real" thistles only those in the genus Cirsium, or are there others as well? We are tryi...
view the full question and answer

Plants for a creek bank in Northern Illinois
March 26, 2009 - Hello. I live in Northern Illinois. The creek (northern exposure in a wooded area) on the back of my property has bare muddy banks and is subject to seasonal floods. I want to plant something hardy t...
view the full question and answer

Hillside Erosion Control for Gainesville GA
August 07, 2013 - I have a steep bare hill and the runoff from it is heavy this year. I need help with a fast growing groundcover that will help control erosion and runoff. Planting on the hill is difficult because you...
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.