Hi all,
In 2016 I visited Kyrgyzstan and found an interesting poppy in the mountains. Superficially it resembles Papaver nudicaule, which does grow in the region. I have attached a few photos of what I take to be P. nudicaule in Kyrgyzstan by way of comparison, which grew in rockier, drier places.
The plant I am interested in differs in having consistently very long spindly flower stems (two feet long) which are not elongated due to lack of light (the plant only grew in full sun), and which are always green. P. nudicaule is often suffsued pinkish in full sun. The plant preferred moist soils and humid conditions alongside rivers and mossy rock faces. The flowers are far more star-shaped than typical P. nudicaule. The leaves were clustered at ground level, never forming the kind of "clump" of P. nudicaule. It was locally very common in the mountains and valleys immediately north of Lake Issyk Kul.
I took some seed of the plant with me, and still have a few growing in pots. It appears noticeably more ephemeral than P. nudicaule, which persists as a perennial reliably. This plant instead behaved mostly as an annual for me, with only a few plants into their second year now. I've not managed to self the remaining plants yet, but I am hoping that they may persist long enough to do so. My cultivated plants are weak - I think they need true alpine conditions to thrive.
So..... based on all this and the photos attached, does anyone know what this poppy is?
