Meconopsis punicea

Taxonomy

A unique and unmistakable red Chinese species centred on Sichuan, almost invariably monocarpic in cultivation and flowering from basal scapes. The resting bud is visible during the winter.

Cultivation

In cultivation this is almost invariably a biennial monocarpic species and the bigger you can get it grow in the year from seed the better it will flower and set seed the next year. Perennial plants do rarely exist but they may be hybrids. (It does look perennial in growth).

Seed appears to have a complex dormancy and needs sowing as soon as ripe (but the seed pods MUST have naturally opened) In Scotland I sow in late June thinly in a standard open compost, cover with 3 mm grit, then a layer of netting with about 5mm holes and then a deep layer of large grit 5 to 10 cms. This is placed cool out of the sun and kept just damp. Late December the coarse grit and net are removed. Germination in a mild winter may occur late January and a little underground warmth will see rapid germination and growth early February. Seedlings are not temperamental or prone to infection and need pricking and potting on as soon as ready. Ideally they will have filled the pots by mid August and need planting out into good soil in a sunny site. Winter losses here are small and no protection is needed with the plants showing a small winter rosette. Expect some losses. They often need hand pollinating and the biggest plants produce the best seed. In a dry year seed set can be very poor. Plants often look as though they will survive another year but they only have a single root system and most that survive die in autumn.

Map Location

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Meconopsis pseduovenusta - Photos In The Garden

Meconopsis pseduovenusta - Photos In The Wild

Shika Shan, Nr. Zhongdien, Yunnan. 4,200m. A rarely seen plant flowering in July. David Rankin. Note with all these plants that the only distingishing feature between this species and the less well understood M. venusta is that this last species has a long narrow seed pod and M. pseudovenusta a short chubby one and this will not be obvious until some time after flowering. Always worth looking for old seeds pods from previous flowering in the area though these plants are probably monocarpic.	A lovely image of this rare species from the Beima Shan, 2009. Hilary Birks.
Beima Shan, Yunnan, 2009. Hilary Birks.	A lovely image taken in Yunnan by Xiao Wei. He is currently writing up his dissertation on Meconopsis for a higher degree at University in Texas. This shows well the defining feature which separates this from M. venusta of a short broad seed pod.
Seed pods - M. venusta would be longer and narrower. Another image from Yunnan by Xiao Wei.

Meconopsis pseudovenusta

Photographer : David Rankin

Taxonomy

(NW Yunnan and neighbouring regions) Closely related to M. venusta (qv.) but distinguished by more egg shaped fruit capsules ( M. venusta they are long and thin) This is a small plant (20 cms or less) with many rich purple flowers with orange anthers borne on leafless and partially agglutinosed (flower stems partially stuck together) scapes. The leaves are variably lobed. The fruit capsule is short and narrow.

Cultivation

Seed has recently been collected (as was M. venusta) and is another difficult purple flowered Chinese species, slow growing and vulnerable to fungal infections.

Map Location

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Meconopsis pseudointegrifolia - Photos In The Garden

Can be leggy and need staking.	Very variable garden plants - can be straggly with small flowers but can also be very good, probably depending on where the seeds were collected. Shows the drooping pale flowers and long stigma and style. Fred Hunt.

Meconopsis pseudointegrifolia - Photos In The Wild

4600m. Da Xue Shan Yunnan. Compact plants at higher altitudes show tendency to 3 leaf veins.	4300m. Da Xue Shan typical long style and veined leaves.
4000m. Da Xue Shan. Leggy long styled plants often grow in shrub as protection.	Rong Chu. SE Tibet. Probably one of the parents of M x Harleyana (q.v.) which Fred Hunt found. Fred Hunt.
Hong Shan 4,000m in Yunnan. Pale yellow flowers and the leaf veining tending towards 3 veined. David Rankin.	Hong Shan 4,000m. David Rankin.
Hong Shan 4,000m Seed capsule to show thick style that is elongated but in some ways intermediate between the flat stigma without a style in M. integrifolia. These two species are clearly very variable. David Rankin.	Hong Shan 4,000m. Random veining on the leaf but it is clear that this is largely an altitude effect with highest altitude plants with 3 thick wind resistant veins and is not a valid criterion to separate the two species - if indeed they are not a single highly variable taxon as Taylor decided after looking at much herbarium material. David Rankin.
Shika Shan, 2009. Typical flower but perhaps showing why a long style protruding from the flower and a downward facing flower have evolved to allow pollination in a wet climate. Perhaps the upward open flowers of M. integrifolia are for drier climates. All the intermediates between the two species being selected by altitude and average rainfall. Hilary Birks.

Meconopsis pseudointegrifolia

Taxonomy

See also M. integrifolia. This is a largely Chinese taxon characterized by pale yellow horizontally held flowers, a long style and a network leaf venation rather than 3 ribs. However plants on two mountain ranges in Yunnan were tall with varied leaf venation lower down but on exposed screes were much dwarfer and showed a leaf venation approaching to the full 3 ribbed form, all however had the paler flowers and long style. Leaf ribbing may well be an adaptation (albeit genetically fixed) so that high altitude plants have the strong 3 ribbed leaf. Grey-Wilson has described 3 subsp., pseudointegrifolia (NW Yunnan), robusta (Wide distribution from Yunnan to SE Tibet, Burma and Bhutan as well as possible Sichuan) and daliensis (north Cangshan range near Dali).The long style and more drooping flowers are probably an adaptation that has evolved in wetter parts of China and Tibet. A detailed account is given in C. Grey-Wilson The New Plantsman 1996.

Cultivation

Easy from seed which at present is usually reasonably available from seed exchanges but not commerce. It is variable since lower altitude forms flower tall and straggly but it can be very good with compact plants. Spring sown seed grows on quite fast and relatively free from fungal infections and large plants should be ready for planting out late August from pots. Some flower at two years and plants in rich soil with plenty of organic matter produce beautiful specimens in the garden. Grow in full sun (at least in Scotland).

Map Location

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