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Argemone albiflora

Common name:	White Prickly Poppy	Family:	Papaveraceae
Author:	Hornem.	Botanical references:	200, 270
Synonyms:	Argemone polyanthemos ((Fedde.)G.B.Ownbey.), Argemone alba (James.)
Known Hazards:	All parts of the plant, including the seed, contain toxic alkaloids[222].
Range:	Southern N. America - Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and Illinois.
Habitat:	Waste places[222]. Waste places, roadsides, fields, beaches, dunes and coastal plains from sea level to 300 metres[270].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	0	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. albiflora ssp. albiflora[B,P] A. intermedia[B,G] A. intermedia auct. non[P] A. intermedia var. polyanthemos[B,G,P] A. platyceras[B] A. platyceras auct. non[P] A. platycerus[]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Blue-stem Prickly-poppy [B], Bluestem Pricklypoppy [P], Crested Prickly Poppy [S], Crested Pricklypoppy [P], White Prickly-poppy [B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	albiflora = white flowered biflora = 2 flowered flora = flowered
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Papaverales. Poppy family

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 1.5m by 0.45m . It is hardy to zone 7. It is in flower from May to August, and the seeds ripen from July to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 0/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Demulcent Emetic Purgative Skin.

A tea made from the leaves is demulcent, emetic and purgative[222]. Caution is advised, the seed oil can cause glaucoma and oedema[222].
An infusion of the plant is used in the treatment of jaundice, skin ailments, colds, colic and wounds[222].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Easily grown in ordinary light soil in a sunny position[200]. Does best in a poor well-drained soil, often self-sowing on stony and sandy sites[200].
Plants resent root disturbance and are best sown in situ[134].

Propagation

Seed - sow April in situ[200]. The seed usually germinates in 3 - 4 weeks at 15° c[134].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Argemone albiflora ssp. albiflora (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for Argemone polyanthemos (a possible synonym).

[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[S] Image from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for the family Papaveraceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[134] Rice. G. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan. 1988
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. An interesting article on Ensete ventricosum.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[270] Flora of N. America 0
An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Argemone+albiflora
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