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Sea Poppy (Glaucium flavum). Coastal Path

Diputación de Málaga
003 Glaucium flavum 1 JaimePereña

Sea Poppy (Glaucium flavum). Coastal Path

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Plant Life > Trees, Bushes and Herbaceous Plants

DESCRIPTION

Yellow hornpoppy, sea poppy or yellow horned poppy is a plant with unusual shape that belongs to the poppy family. They can be from 10 to 110 cm tall and be very hairy, that is to say, with a lot of trichomes. They can be perennial or last two years (biennial). Their leaves are very light green, almost white. Leaves also have a lot of trichomes and teeth and they are supported by stems. The flowers are large (55-75 mm across) and bright yellow. They sometimes have an orange spot at the base of the petals, but they do not have trichomes and they fall off easily. Their fruit is a long narrow capsule, up to 20 cm, with no trichomes and with plenty of black seeds in the shape of a kidney.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

Sea poppies usually live on sand and gravel on the coast, although they can also be found on disturbed land, changed by human activity. They appear in plant communities made by annual or perennial plants, which can stand salty soil and which are the first colonies on coastal dunes and sandy areas enriched with nutrients due to the common intense tides.

HOW THEY LIVE

These plants reproduce through seeds, which are many in their long and horn-shaped fruit. They are not very common on this coast as the ecosystems where they grow have been reduced due to building and because there are fewer sandy areas.

WHERE THEY CAN BE SEEN IN MÁLAGA

In spite of being few on the coast of Málaga, they can be easily found on dunes and beaches changed by human activity on both, east and west, coasts.

INTERESTING FACTS

'Flavum' refers to yellow colour of their petals. This plant has some medical use, as it is used as cough medicine in some countries, though this is not very common. It is also considered to be poisonous in some other countries.

SIMILAR SPECIES

As it belongs to poppies, it can be taken for some other species from this family, although on this coast there is only the common poppy (Papaverrhoeas) beside sea poppies, but its petals are red. Moreover, it is difficult to be confused with other species due to a unique shape of its leaves.

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