Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( White ), 1 by htop

htop wrote:
Texas Prickly Poppy, Texas Pricklypoppy, Hill Prickly Poppy (Argemone aurantiaca), endemic Texas native, Papaveraceae Family, annual/biennial, blooms spring through summer, considered a weed by many

Texas prickly poppy is found natively growing in fields, pastures, on hills and other disturbed sites as well as in transition zones between lowlands and plateau areas in various parts of central Texas. In particilar, it is frequently found in these counties: Bandera, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Brown, Comal, Gillespie, Hays, Kerr, Maverick, McLennan, Menard, Mitchell, Schleicher, Taylor, Travis and Uvalde. I could not find very much information about this plant. It is similar in appearance to Argemone albiflora ssp. texana. They differ in the amount of thorns that are present on the plant. The main diffrence is the shape of their seed capsules and their bloom buds. Argemone aurantiaca's bloom buds are oblong. Argemone albiflora ssp. texana bloom buds are subglobose (not quite having the shape of a sphere or ball or nearly orbicular in shape) to broadly ellipsoid (the shape of a compressed or somewhat flattened sphere). In other words, Argemone albiflora ssp. texana's are somewhat "squatter" than Argemone aurantiaca's. The seeds are held in capsules which, when dried, have holes in the top from which the seeds pour out like salt shaker (as do other poppy family species).

Distribution Map 1: (this map does not include Bexar County - this plant has been documented in Bexar County by several sources)
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/endemics_map_page2?code=K...

Distribution Map 2: http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefip...

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/114901/index.html

A bloom blowing in a brisk April wind which assists with pollen dispersal: