Californian Poppy - Eschscholzia californica

A vigorous, bushy, spreading plant to 30cm, with finely divided blue-green leaves and flowers to 7cm across which are usually orange but may be yellow or even red.

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Frequently encountered as a casual on rubbish tips and roadsides, but sometimes becomes naturalised in quarries, on railway tracks and waste ground.

In flower late May to August.

A perennial herb, but usually grown as an annual in Britain - it rarely overwinters other than in milder areas.

Widespread as an escape from cultivation in Britain.

Rarely recorded in the wild in Leicestershire and Rutland.