NEPALESE AUTUMN POPPY
The Nepalese Autumn Poppy also known as Meconopsis autumnalis is the fourth newly discovered species of 2013.
Characteristics
Many newly discovered species are small in size or secretive in habits, but not all. This beautiful and vibrantly coloured poppy has remained unknown to science until now. This is no doubt due in part to the extreme environment where the flower lives at an elevation of 10,827 to 13,780 feet in central Nepal. It is also evidence of the paucity of botanists studying the Asian flora as specimens of Meconopsis autumnalis had been collected twice before, although not recognized as new -- first in 1962 by the storied Himalayan plant hunter Adam Stainton and again in 1994 by staff of the University of Tokyo’s Department of Plant Resources. The recent rediscovery of the poppy in the field was made by intrepid botanists collecting plants miles from human habitation in heavy monsoon rains.
The Classification Key
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperms
Subphylum: Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Genus: Meconopsis
Species: M. autumnalis
Characteristics
Many newly discovered species are small in size or secretive in habits, but not all. This beautiful and vibrantly coloured poppy has remained unknown to science until now. This is no doubt due in part to the extreme environment where the flower lives at an elevation of 10,827 to 13,780 feet in central Nepal. It is also evidence of the paucity of botanists studying the Asian flora as specimens of Meconopsis autumnalis had been collected twice before, although not recognized as new -- first in 1962 by the storied Himalayan plant hunter Adam Stainton and again in 1994 by staff of the University of Tokyo’s Department of Plant Resources. The recent rediscovery of the poppy in the field was made by intrepid botanists collecting plants miles from human habitation in heavy monsoon rains.
The Classification Key
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Angiosperms
Subphylum: Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Genus: Meconopsis
Species: M. autumnalis