I photographed this plant in British Columbia in May several years ago and it's been lying in a "needs an i.d." box ever since. I think it's either Meconopsis or Papaver, but can't locate it in my reference books. Any thoughts?
Papaver rhoeas or similarly built one. Without flowers you will have trouble being sure. P. somniferum has a single main stalk like with lettucelike, bloomy, clammy, not esp. hairy leaves all the way up; the flowers are borne on comparatively short stems together at the top of the main stalk.
No, it's not either one of those. I've photographed lots of corn poppy (P. rhoeas) and opium poppy (P. somniferum). This has a more rigid stem and the flowers are small and nodding.
Like I said, "or a similarly built one." What do the flowers look like? If they are orange then it would be one of the P. atlanticum types (several similar species are cultivated).
Well, a sharp-eyed horticulturist at Annie's Annuals in Calif. pointed out that there are two plants in the picture, a budded poppy of some kind in front and behind it -- the one I was hoping to i.d. -- is water avens, Geum rivale. I hadn't heard of it but looked it up and confirmed that that's what it is. Thanks to all.
Well, I wondered if you were asking about the Geum at the start. No, that definitely doesn't look like a shirley poppy. And it's not a straight G. rivale either, it's a garden form or hybrid with larger petals and more of them.
Papaver orientale is more robust, with greener, more deeply divided leaves. 'Leonard's Variety' is the first candidate to come to mind for the geum, it looks like it's probably that one. http://images.google.com/images?q=geum+leonards&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
