This is a genus of few species, the greater number of which are either annual or biennial plants, and furnishing, so far as I know, only one perennial worthy of cultivation.

Argemone Grandiflora, Great-Flowered Prickly Poppy

This species grows from 2 feet to 3 feet high in bold, somewhat coarse, but rounded habit, producing large, smooth, wavy leaves, toothed, and in form like some of the familiar Thistles, the teeth being furnished with bristling spinelike hairs. The flowers are large, pure white, in numerous flowered panicles; flowers in July and August; native of Mexico. It is best adapted for culture in the back lines of warm, sheltered borders, or among shrubs in beds or borders.