Prickly Blue-Poppy - Meconopsis horridula

Commonly known as Prickly Blue-Poppy, and Tibetan Poppy, Meconopsis horridula (Ranunculales - Papaveraceae) is an unusual bristly poppy with gorgeous, floppy, blue, tissue-paper flowers. The epithet “horrid” obviously applies to the spiny looking stems and certainly not to the striking cobalt-blue, ivory-eyed flowers.

This is an alpine species which occurs in the Himalayan region. It has been used as a traditional Tibetan medicine to “clear away heat, relieve pain, and mobilize static blood”. Currently chemical investigations on this species has led to the isolation and structural identification of 40 compounds, including several flavonoids, alkaloids and  terpenoids. 

References: [1] - [2] - [3] - [4]

Photo credit: ©Nobuhiro Suhara | Locality: Osaka, Japan (2015)