Celandine Poppy

Written By: Jeannie Chambers - The Accidental Gardener | Issue: 2018/05 - May

Sometimes, it’s the little things that catch our eye, as is the case with the Celandine Poppy. 

Also known as woods poppy, this plant’s real name is Stylophorum dipphyllum, which sounds a little like Styrofoam dipped and filled. The parent family is Papaverales, the poppy family.  It’s not that the plant is little, as it can grow up towards two feet and spreads out about the same.  The littleness is in its unassuming poppy-like yellow flower, like one of those little flowers made from tissue paper, and not much bigger than a buttercup.  These plants produce pollen, but don’t have nectar, but the bees help pollinate them anyway.  The undersides of the bright green leaves have somewhat of a silvery look, helped by being covered in tiny hairs.  The stems have a sap in them that stains, which is why Native Americans used it for dye. 

After flowering time is over, mid-April and throughout May, look for the hairy fruit-pods that appear.  These pods are separated into four chambers that are each full of tiny dark brown-to-black seeds.  The pods break open in mid-to-late summer when they’ve had enough of the season, and the seeds drop to the ground.  The seeds themselves have teeny hairs along their ridge which probably makes it easier for the ants to carry them off to happy planting grounds.  (Are you feeling small yet?)  There’s a whole other world in our forest floor, so be careful where you step, those little ants don’t wear yellow construction hats.

When you look at some of the maps showing the growing areas of Celandine Poppies, North Carolina isn’t always shown, but guess what?  They’re heeeeerrrreeee, and we’re lucky they are.  The Mountain Garden Club usually has these plants at their Plant Sale, so check them out.  The sale is the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, at the Ball Park in Highlands and the gates open at 9:00 A.M.  Even though the sale goes from 9:00 A.M. to noon, it’s best to be there when the gates open to make sure you get what you want. 

If you have a naturalized wooded area, please consider Celandine Poppies − we need to protect them.  They need sun for a good start in life, but the canopy of shade our forests provide is exactly what they need to thrive.  When forests are “cleaned up,” or logged, these plants are destroyed.  Even selective logging can inhibit their growth because when the tree canopy thins, so do these and other plants. 

Wait, I think I see an ant trail with teeny protest signs approaching.  “Save the poppies.” “Save our jobs.”   And besides, who wants to be responsible for
ant unemployment?