Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Argemone mexicana Prickly Poppy

Argemone mexicana "Prickly Poppy"
This annual poppy has distinctive yellow flowers and blue grey sharp edged foliage.When picked it bleeds bright orange yellow sap. The seed pods it produces are horned and contain hundreds of black seeds which resemble mustard seeds.These are poisonous and have been implicated in poisoning cases in India where they have been used as a substitute for mustard seed.It causes dropsy and glaucoma due to the presence of isoquinoline alkaloids. It is best removed if found or reported to a noxious weeds authority.

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