About Eschscholzia minutiflora S.Watson
Eschscholzia minutiflora, commonly called the pygmy poppy, is a species of poppy native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. This wild annual herb grows from a cluster of segmented leaves made up of divided, rounded leaflets. Its stems are thin, and are either erect or nodding; they can be very short, or grow up to 35 centimeters tall. The stems bear small poppy flowers, with petals that range in length from just a few millimeters up to two and a half centimeters. The petals are bright yellow, and sometimes marked with orange spotting. The fruit produced is a capsule 3 to 6 centimeters long, which holds tiny brown to black seeds. Three subspecies are recognized within this species. Eschscholzia minutiflora subsp. minutiflora has the smallest flowers, with petals 0.3 to 1.0 centimeters long, the broadest distribution of the three, and a chromosome count of n = 18. Eschscholzia minutiflora subsp. covillei (Greene) C.Clark has intermediate-sized flowers with petals 0.6 to 1.8 centimeters long, a chromosome count of n = 12, and is found in the Mojave Desert. Eschscholzia minutiflora subsp. twisselmannii C.Clark has the largest flowers with petals 1.0 to 2.6 centimeters long, a chromosome count of n = 6, and occurs in the El Paso and Rand mountains of the Mojave Desert.
