Papaver fugax

Description

Papaver fugax is a species of flowering plant. This was first described by Jean Louis Marie Poiret. Papaver fugax belongs to the genus Papaver, and family Papaveraceae. Papaver sect. Argemonidium includes four annual, half-rosette species, P. argemone, P. pavonium, P. apulum, and P. hybridum (Kadereit 1986a). Papaver apulum, P. argemone and P. pavonium occur allopatrically from the Adriatic Sea to the Himalayan range. P. hybridum is distributed widely from the Himalayas to Macaronesian Islands. These species are easily distinguished in petal and capsule characters, but are clearly closely related according to molecular analysis. Argemonidium is a sister group to all other Papaver sections, with characteristic indels. Morphological characters also support this distinction, including the presence of an apical plug in the capsules, long internodes above the basal leaf rosette, bristly capsules and polyporate pollen grains. Carolan et al. (2006) supported Kadereit et al. (1997)’s suggestions that Argemonidium and Roemeria are in fact sister taxa.They share some morphological characters that distinguish them from Papaver, including polyporate pollen grains, and long internodes superior the basal leaf rosette. Previous taxonomies of the Old World clade did include the close relationship between Argemonidium and Roemeria, nor Argemonidium’s distinctness from Papaver s.s. Carolan suggest Argemonidium be elevated to genus status, with Roemeria a sub-genus.