Common Name: Mexican poppy. Tamil Name: Piramathanda, Kudiyotti
Mexican poppy is a native of Central American region naturalized in India. It grows to a height of about 2.5 feet and is an annual. The entire plant is hairless but extremely prickly. The leaves are sessile and pinnatified and measure about 15 cm in length. The leaf margin in dentate. The lower side of the leaf is prickly, the leaf nerves appear in pale green to whitish in color. The simple leaves are arranged in alternate manner. The leaf shape is elliptic and tip acuminate. Flowers are terminal or axillary and single. The flower has 6 yellow colored obovate petals. The flower is around 4.5 cm long. The calyx consists of three prickly sepals. The stamens are several in numbers and are filamentous and the anther segments are yellow in color. The fruit is in the form of an elliptic capsule (3 cm long) and bears several tiny seeds. The plant is poisonous to both humans and cattle. This plant is the larval host plant of Painted lady butterfly. Mexican poppy is a common plant in fallow lands and road-sides in Tamilnadu.
