Papaver nudicaule

Papaver nudicaule, the Iceland poppy, is a boreal flowering plant now treated by Plants of the World Online under the accepted name Oreomecon nudicaulis, although the older name Papaver nudicaule is still used in many sources. It is native to subpolar regions of Asia and the Yukon in North America, but not to Iceland, and has been introduced elsewhere, including southern Argentina, Colorado, Greenland and Tibet. Linnaeus gave the species its first scientific name in 1753. It is a hardy but short-lived perennial, often grown as a biennial, with large papery bowl-shaped lightly fragrant flowers on hairy curved stems above feathery blue-green foliage. The wild plant blooms in white or yellow, while cultivars come in many shades of yellow, orange, pink, scarlet and cream, and several have won the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. It prefers light, well-drained soil and full sun and lasts several days as a cut flower. All parts are likely to be poisonous because they contain toxic alkaloids, including chelidonine.