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Arctomecon
Arctomecon is a genus of three uncommon desert poppies (bear poppies), native only to the northeastern Mojave Desert, grown mainly as specialty xeric or native-plant garden subjects. The key to growing them is excellent drainage and very little water.
Arctomecon is a genus of the poppy family Papaveraceae commonly called the bear poppies or bear-paw poppies, after the distinctive appearance of the leaves. The three species occur only in the northeastern part of the Mojave Desert of North America, and are all uncommon.
The plants consist of one or a cluster of basal rosettes of leaves with a generally light blue or grey appearance. Closer examination shows the leaves to be generally wedge-shaped, with the end of each divided into several teeth, and entirely covered with long hairs 5–15 mm in length. The effect is that of a hairy bear paw, whence both common and scientific name (arktos bear + mecon poppy). The solitary terminal flowers are typical of poppies, with 2-3 sepals and 4-6 petals, either white or yellow, and starting out as nodding bud before become erect.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Arctomecon by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
