Addisonia 31 



(Plate 96) 



STYLOPHORUM DIPHYLLUM 

 Celandine Poppy 



Native of central United States 

 Family Papaveraceak Poppy Family 



Chelidonium diphyllum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 309. 1803. 

 Stylophorum diphyllum Nutt. Gen. 2: 7. 1818. 

 Meconopsis diphylla DC. Syst. Veg. 2: 88. 1821. 



A perennial herb with abundant yellow sap, growing nearly two 

 feet high, from short rootstocks, and bearing many large yellow 

 flowers in May. The stems are smooth or somewhat setose, purplish 

 above, especially in the inflorescence. The leaves are smooth, 

 or somewhat hairy, glaucous beneath and dull green above; they 

 are pinnatifid, with oblong, sinuate lobes. The lower leaves are 

 alternate and measure six inches or more in length; the two upper- 

 most are opposite, subtending the inflorescence, shorter, rounded 

 and more hairy. The yellow flowers are seldom solitary, usually 

 clustered, on long setose peduncles which are pendulous in bud and 

 fruit, and measure one to two inches across. There are two rounded 

 concave sepals, and four obovate petals. Twenty or more stamens 

 with short filiform filaments and oblong orange-yellow anthers 

 surround the base of the conspicuous green pistil, comprising an 

 ovoid one-celled ovary, a prominent style and a three-lobed stigma. 

 The capsule is bristly, many-seeded, and tipped with the persistent 

 style. 



The celandine poppy is one of several species of Stylophorum, 

 others being found in China, Japan, and the Himalayas. It is 

 found growing naturally in low woods from Pennsylvania and Ohio 

 to Tennessee and westward to Wisconsin and Missouri. Although 

 closely related to our blood-root and to the Asiatic Hylomecon, its 

 nearest relative is the celandine, Chelidonium majus, which has 

 very similar leaves and the same copious yellow sap. It is distinct 

 however in the flower, and by its bristly, thickened capsule with 

 persistent style instead of a linear, smooth capsule and style almost 

 none. 



Our illustration was made from plants growing since 1915 in the 

 Herbaceous Grounds, where they seem to thrive as well in the open 

 as the celandine does. They are hardy and very floriferous in 

 spring and early summer. The cultivation of this species appears 

 to be little undertaken, although it was introduced into England in 



