Commemorating Johann Friederich Eschscholtz (1793–1831) Russian surgeon, naturalist, adventurer and writer of botanical works.
Annual or perennial herbs. Sap colourless. Leaves alternate, finely divided, mostly hairless. Flowers solitary, showy, mostly pink or yellow to orange. Sepals 2, fused into a cap shed at flowering. Petals 4. Stamens 16 or more. Fruit a narrow capsule with longitudinal ribs, twisting spirally as they dry before opening explosively to liberate the seed.
Seed.
Sepals fused to form a floral cap before flowering; petals roll longitudinally in bad weather, each enclosing a few stamens; finely dissected cylindrical leaves; stigmas 4.
About 10 species from W North America including N Mexico (naturalised elsewhere).
Source: (1997). Papaveraceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.