WOOTON AND STANDLEY—FLORA OF NEW MEXICO. 261 
1. ARGEMONE L. Prickty poppy. 
Coarse herbaceous biennials or perennials, 40 to 90 cm. high, frequently much 
branched, spiny throughout, with alternate, pinnatifid or bipinnatifid, more or 
less glaucous leaves; sap thickened; flowers large, 10 cm. in diameter or less; petals 
thin and delicate, falling readily, white; stamens numerous, forming a conspicuous 
yellow center; fruit a 4-valved capsule with numerous seeds. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
Stems spiny and hispid........-..........-2---2--22---------00--- 1. A. hispida. 
Stems spiny but not hispid. 
Spines of the capsule herbaceous near the base and furnished 
with small spines or hairs. ...........--..22.--2-+--0-- 2. A. squarrosa. 
Spines of the capsule not herbaceous below, simple. 
Valves of the capsule sparsely spiny; horns of the sepals 
pyramidal or terete, smooth on the outer surface.... 3. A. intermedia. 
Valves of the capsule densely armed; horns of the sepals 
dilated, spiny on the outer surface........ see eeeeee 4. A. platyceras. 
1. Argemone hispida A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. n. ser. 4: 5. 1849. 
Enomegra hispida A. Nels. Key Pl. Rocky Mount. 27. 1902. 
Typr Locality: Low, sandy places around Santa Fe, New Mexico. Type collected 
by Fendler (no. 16). 
Rance: Wyoming to Utah and northern New Mexico. 
New Mexico: Santa Fe; Raton; Sierra Grande. Dry plains, in the Upper Sonoran 
Zone. 
This is the common species farther north, coming into our range from that direction. 
2. Argemone squarrosa Greene, Pittonia 4: 68. 1901. 
Tyre Locauity: Near Gray, Lincoln County, New Mexico. Type collected by 
Miss Josephine Skehan (no. 79). 
RANGE: Central New Mexico. 
New Mexico: Gray; Fort Stanton. Upper Sonoran Zone. 
3. Argemone intermedia Sweet, Hort. Brit. ed. 2. 585. 1830. 
Typr LOCALITY: Mexico. 
Rance: Nebraska and Kansas to Texas and Arizona, southward into Mexico, 
New Mexico: Organ Mountains; near Glorieta; headwaters of the Pecos. Dry 
plains and hills, in the Upper Sonoran Zone. 
4. Argemone platyceras Link & Otto, Icon. Pl. Rar. 1: 85. 1828. 
Argemone pleiacantha Greene, Repert. Nov. Sp. Fedde 6: 161. 1908. 
Argemone platyceras pleiacantha Fedde in Engl. Pflanzenreich 40: 285. 1909. 
Typr Locauity: ‘‘In Mexico, in Confre de Perote prope Hacienda de la Laguna.”’ 
RanaeE: Wyoming and Nebraska to Arizona and Texas, southward into Mexico. 
New Mexico: Chiz; Silver City; Mangas Springs; Kingston; north base of Animas 
Peak; Cloverdale; Rio Fresnal; La Luz Canyon. On dry plains and hillsides, in the 
Upper Sonoran and sometimes the Transition zone. 
This is the common species at middle levels throughout the State, occurring in wide 
arroyos, on flats along the foothills, and in open parks in the mountains. Within its 
altitudinal range it is frequently a conspicuous range weed, indicating an advanced 
stage of deterioration resulting from overstocking. It produces an abundance of seed 
which is eaten freely by doves. It usually goes under the name of “thistle ’’ in New 
Mexico. The type of A. pleiacantha was collected near Kingston by Metcalfe. 
