Are they fertile?

[Gunilla]

I have had a look at my plants. The seed pod is not hairy but there are hair on other parts of the plant.
 

[Lesley Cox]

Diane and Gunilla, your plants certainly look right, not the Stylophorum that most turn out to be. As a mature plant, the leaves are somewhat Astilbe-like. Diane, would you share please, the Japanese source of your plants if you feel able to do so?

[Leena]

My Hylomecon japonica -plant looks just like the one in Gunilla's picture, and it has long seed pods (I opened one and there were seeds but they were still white and not mature, I don't know if they are fertile or not, I will keep an eye on them). I will have to check if they are hairy or not.
Diane's japanese Hylomecon sounds very interesting.

[Robert Pavlis]

Diane - not sure why you said "Robert, I don't think your seed pod looks correct, as I thought Hylomecon has long pods"? I think my comments were about the seeds, not the pod.

I believe the comment about hairs, by another poster,  referred to the seed pod, not the plant. The plant has hairs, but the seed pod is hairless.

[Robert Pavlis]

I have completed a post on my blog, GardenMyths.com comparing Hylomecon japonica with it's three imposters; Stylophorum diphyllum, Stylophorum lasiocarpum and Chelidonium majus. Please let me know if you find any mistakes.

http://www.gardenmyths.com/hylomecon-japonica-which-is-the-real-plant/

[Lesley Cox]

Haven't time to look at your blog now Robert, appointment in half an hour and I'm late already but will do, later today.

I think your picture Leena, says all the right things about the Hylomecon. It is very beautiful and choice - look at the company it's keeping  - and for a cool, dampish place, semi-shade. It's great to see several plants among  members.

[Leena]

Thanks Leslie.

Robert, a good posting showing well the difference in the leaves of the four species. I think it is easiest to tell them apart from the leaves and the fact that H.japonica goes dormant in early summer.
Here Chelidonium majus grows as a weed (I also once had fl pl but it disappeared), and I've grown both Stylophorum species but S.diphyllum died at some point and I don't know if S.lasiocarpum is alive either (it survived longer). I didn't like neither Stylphorums so much (they reminded me too much of C.majus, though they were different) and so they got neglected and other plants grew over them, but Hylomecon japonica is my favourite.

[Robert Pavlis]

My H.japonica usually goes dormant early as well, but not this year. It is a bit yellow, but all of the leaves are still present as of today. We did have more regular rain and cooler temperatures this year. It has been quite a cool summer.

[Gabriela]

I have the chance to conclude the discussions here with pictures of Hylomecon vernalis (syn. H. japonica) seeds taken on grid paper.
For final comparison I'll add the capsules and seeds of Stylophorum lasiocarpum and S. diphyllum.

Interesting to note that although the Hylomecon pod is very similar with that of S. lasiocarpum (minus hairs), the seeds are closer to those of S. diphyllum (though a bit smaller).

And to answer before someone will ask, no, the seeds are not from mine/or friends plants growing here. They never set seeds, or at best very few.

[MarcR]

Dianne Whitehead,

I know this is off topic but interesting, I hope.  I noticed your signature and realized that I'm less than 300 miles south of you; and we get 50+ inches of rain [ about 110 cm].  Portland gets about what what you get, and so does Salem.  I have no idea why we get so much more; except that there is a high ridge between me and Dallas that  the rain may have difficulty crossing. I am about 28 miles SSW of Salem and about 8 miles SW of Dallas.