Eomecon

Eomecon chionantha
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Papaveraceae
Genus:	Eomecon
Species:	E. chionantha
Binomial name
Eomecon chionantha Hance

Eomecon chionantha, also known as the snow poppy or dawn poppy, is a poppy of woodlands in eastern China, in particular Gansu and Sichuan provinces.

E. chionantha is a perennial developing from rhizomes that often send out stolons to considerable distances. The basal leaves are different from all other poppies, being large (10-15 cm across) and heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, each carried on its own stalk. The flowers are on branching scapes up to 40 cm tall, each branch having a single bract at its base. The flowers are 3-4 cm across, and consist of four white oval petals, with a cluster of bright yellow anthers in the center.

In cultivation it proves quite hardy as long as it is shaded, with a habit of popping up new growth at some distance from the usual planting.

The misspelling E. chionanthum is often seen.

References

• Christopher Grey-Wilson, Poppies (Portland: Timber Press, 2000) ISBN 0-88192-503-9 pp. 53-55