The Meconopsis Group

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Until very recently, the plants illustrated on this page growing in NW Yunnan, together with those illustrated on the page for Meconopsis baileyi growing in SE Tibet, were known collectively as M. betonicifolia. However, as the result of recent research by Christopher Grey-Wilson (2009), he has proposed separating the plants from these two provenances into two distinct species. These are M. betonicifolia for the NW Yunnan plants and M. baileyi for those from SE Tibet. Details are outlined in the supplementary page MM. baileyi & betonicifolia reclassification. Diagnostic details defining both species, as given by Chris Grey-Wilson, are also tabulated on the page. Further relevant pictures, enabling comparisons to be made, are available on the page for the species M. baileyi.

The photographs below were taken in the wild by Joseph Atkins and Toshio Yoshida. Toshio Yoshida has seen both M. betonicifolia and M. baileyi growing in the wild, in Yunnan and SE Tibet. He thinks that more field studies are required before the establishment of two distinct species is justified. One important feature singled out by Chris Grey-Wilson for distinguishing these two species is the clump-forming habit of M baileyi and the rhizomatous/stoloniferous habit of M. betonicifolia. Stanley Ashmore has provided evidence for the rhizomatous habit and this is shown in the pictures below.

M. betonicifolia in cultivation (to demonstrate its rhizomatous habit)
To complement the pictures taken in the wild above, we also show some taken by Stanley Ashmore of the Blue Poppy Garden in Alaska. He raised a single seedling in about 2000 (now a patch of 25 plants) of M. betonicifolia grown from seed he collected in north west Yunnan (Niney-Nine Dragon Mountain, Jianchuang) (pictures C.1 and C.2) The pictures were taken to show how it compares with M. baileyi and to demonstrate its impressive rhizomatous habit (pictures C.6 and C.7). This contrasts with the clump-forming habit of M. baileyi in cultivation (C.8), which never shows any hint of forming rhizomes. According to Stanley Ashmore, M betonicifolia is less robust than M. baileyi (C.1). Putative crosses between the two species have been made and these are shown, together with the parents in (C.3, C.4, C.5 and C.9). But Stanley Ashmore stresses that it is important to return to Yunnan for further observations, to raise more plants from authentic seed and to attempt to produce hybrids between the two species. He feels this further study is needed to be sure that his observations tally with how populations grow in the wild, thereby not basing definitive conclusions on the single plant he raised from the seeds he collected.

C.1.(left)
Three plants: front left to back right:
M. betonicifolia, less vigorous with frilly flowers,
M baileyi, taller and more vigorous and
M. 'Lingholm', tallest with largest flowers

C.4. (left) From left to right:
M. betonicifolia
putative hybrid
M. baileyi

C.5.(right) From left to right
M. betonicifolia
putative hybrid
M. baileyi.
Note: leaf and flower shape, capsule shape and bristliness, and style length

C.6 & C.7. M. betonicifolia,
lifted from soil to show the rhizomatous habit.

C.8. M. baileyi,
lifted from soil to show clump-forming habit.
Photographer: Evelyn Stevens

C.9. Fruit capsules (from left to right):of:
M. betonicifolia,
putative hybrid
M baileyi.
Note the overall shapes, presence or absence of bristles and the length of the styles