Family |
Papaveraceae
Papaver umbonatum
Boiss.
Papaver umbonatum Boiss.
First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. 8: 11 (1849).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, pp. 64–66, including the historical accounts of P. subpiriforme and P. syriacum; Pl. XXVI, 2 for P. umbonatum; 1970)
Description
Synonyms: Papaver stylatum Boiss. & Balansa; P. subpiriforme Fedde; P. syriacum Boiss. & C.I.Blanche, all placed under P. umbonatum by Kew.
Life-form & habit: In Mouterde’s account under P. umbonatum, an annual, often with several stems, 20–60 cm tall, bearing spreading hairs.
Leaves: More or less deeply pinnately lobed or divided. Lower leaves often have broad, relatively blunt lobes; upper leaves have sharper lobes.
Inflorescence & flowers: Flower stalks with spreading or appressed hairs. Sepals bristly and soon falling. Petals red, varying in intensity, with or without a black basal blotch. Anthers nearly spherical and blackish.
Fruit: Capsule oval-oblong to cylindrical, with five to eight stigmas. Disc flat or slightly convex, usually with a distinct central point projecting 1–2 mm; stigmas and central point often strongly papillose.
Variation in Mouterde: The separately treated P. syriacum has a flat to slightly conical disc without a distinct central point, usually six to eight stigmas, and bright purplish-red petals with a black basal blotch often edged in white. P. subpiriforme has finely divided leaves and a nearly spherical capsule wider than its disc, with six to eight stigmas. These historical distinctions fall within Kew’s current P. umbonatum.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: February–April and later at altitude in the P. umbonatum account; February–May and later in the mountains under P. syriacum; spring under P. subpiriforme.
Habitat & elevation: Gardens, disturbed ground and woodland; the historical synonym accounts also include fields, roadsides and seashores.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Under P. umbonatum: Beirut and surroundings, Nahr el Kelb, Deir el Qalaa, Ain Zehalta, Dahr el Baidar, Jabal Barouk and Douma; Hammana is additionally discussed as a probable record. Under P. syriacum: Tyr, Saida, Ras Jedra, Bir Hassen, Beirut, Nahr el Kelb, Ras Chekka, Tripoli, Ghazir, base of Jabal Terbol, Tannourine, the Cedars, Ehmej, Tlail, Rayak, Aytanit and Marjayoun. P. subpiriforme is recorded at Saida.
Syrian distribution: Under P. syriacum: Banias, Aouaniye near Jeble, Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus, Jabal Qasyoun, Doummar, Madaya, Kafer, Tell Hadid and Tell Chihane.
Recorded locations: Kornet Chehwan.
Native range: Lebanon-Syria, Palestine and Türkiye.
Introduced into: Germany and Gulf States.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
Kew unites P. syriacum and P. subpiriforme with P. umbonatum, although Mouterde treats them separately. Historical descriptions and locality lists are distinguished above to preserve that source context. The tentative P. clavatum synonym in Mouterde is not adopted here.