Species
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Papaver nudicaule L.

Arctic poppy, Iceland poppy, Icelandic poppy, Icelandic poppy

Climate known 14 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Oreomecon nudicaulis, synonym Papaver nudicaule, the Iceland poppy, is a boreal flowering plant. It is native to subpolar regions of Asia and the Yukon in North America, and has been introduced elsewhere. Iceland poppies are hardy but short-lived perennials, often grown as biennials. They yield large, papery, bowl-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers supported by hairy, 1 foot (30 cm) curved stems among feathery blue-green foliage 1–6 inches long. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Oreomecon nudicaulis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Papaver

Papaver is a genus of 70–100 species of frost-tolerant annuals, biennials, and perennials native to temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, Africa and North America. It is the type genus of the poppy family, Papaveraceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Papaver”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Papaveraceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk +9
Wild records
281 in range· 49 open

At a glance

Warmest month
23°C
Jul, mean day; nights 13 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
376mm/yr
5 wet months · peak Jul 91 mm (CHELSA)
Light
6–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 376 mm a year, wettest July at 91 mm, driest February at 5 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -35.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Papaver alpinum var. nudicaule (L.) Fisch. & C.A.Mey.; Papaver coloradense Fedde; Papaver nudicaule f. nudicaule; Papaver nudicaule f. typicum Serg.; Papaver nudicaule var. nudicaule and 2 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (279 mm of 376 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 14.7 °C against a yearly mean of -0.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 376 mm a year, wettest July at 91 mm, driest February at 5 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

376 mm a year at the habitat, 279 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 91 mm, driest February at 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 262 mm to 1394 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -35.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -35.9 °C, the absolute minimum -49.2 °C, about 215 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -25.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells -29.2 °C to -20.2 °C), warmest day 22.9 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -35.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 51 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from -16 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul; mean night from -26 °C in Jan to 13 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 376 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 151 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -49.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-60°-40°-20°20°40°frost32.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-49.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 6–40RH 51–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 151 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-16 / -19–-14-10 / -15–-9-2 / -8–-07 / -2–915 / 4–1721 / 12–2323 / 15–2521 / 14–2214 / 9–156 / -0–7-5 / -11–-2-13 / -16–-9
Night °C-26 / -29–-20-23 / -26–-18-15 / -18–-12-4 / -10–-43 / -2–49 / 5–1113 / 8–1411 / 7–144 / 0–8-4 / -8–1-14 / -18–-6-23 / -25–-15
Rain mm7 / 4–1145 / 3–866 / 3–8013 / 7–7930 / 18–7462 / 43–9391 / 67–13983 / 62–16343 / 29–13613 / 8–16412 / 7–15111 / 6–112
DLI8 / 5–1015 / 10–1726 / 19–2734 / 31–3540 / 37–4240 / 36–4136 / 30–3831 / 24–3223 / 18–2515 / 11–179 / 7–106 / 4–7
RH %67 / 63–7163 / 61–6656 / 52–6251 / 47–6151 / 48–6255 / 52–6359 / 55–6560 / 57–6558 / 56–6458 / 55–6562 / 59–6666 / 62–71

Each figure is the median across the 151 grid cells holding the 277 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 743:5669 (52.825, 103.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -49.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -35.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 151 distinct grid cells holding the 277 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 743:5669 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 53.00_103.750, lapse-corrected -112 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 427 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBuryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Yakutskiya, Amur, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Magadan, Primorye, Sakhalin, Alaska, Yukon· introduced: Tibet, Greenland, Colorado, Argentina South
Kew's description“biennial or perennial” · “subalpine or subarctic”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker52.013, 107.5 · in the densest population, 130 records (46% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 281 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 49 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 155 km away. 461 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 281 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Papaver nudicaulePapaver nudicaulePapaver nudicaulePapaver nudicaulePapaver nudicaulePapaver nudicaulePapaver nudicaulePapaver nudicaule

Photographs: Юлия, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (4); Matt Bowser, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Papaver nudicaule, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Flavonols and an indole alkaloid skeleton bearing identical acylated glycosidic groups from yellow petals of Papaver nudicaule
Willibald Schliemann, Bernd Schneider, Victor Wray, Jürgen Schmidt (2005) · Phytochemistry
The Occurrence of Flavonoids and Related Compounds in Flower Sections of Papaver nudicaule
Bettina Dudek, Anne‐Christin Warskulat, Bernd Schneider (2016) · Plants
Identification and cloning of related self-incompatibility S -genes in Papaver rhoeas and Papaver nudicaule
Smita Kurup, J.P. Ride, Nick Jordan, Georgina Fletcher (1998) · Sexual Plant Reproduction
Postharvest Evaluation of Cut Dahlia, Linaria, Lupine, Poppy, Rudbeckia, Trachelium, and Zinnia
John M. Dole, Zenaída Viloria, Frankie L. Fanelli, William C. Fonteno (2009) · HortTechnology
Pelargonidin 3-malonylsophoroside from the red Iceland poppy, Papaver nudicaule
Georges Cornuz, Hugo Wyler, Jürgen Lauterwein (1981) · Phytochemistry
Nudicaulins, Yellow Flower Pigments of Papaver nudicaule: Revised Constitution and Assignment of Absolute Configuration
Evangelos C. Tatsis, Anu Schaumlöffel, Anne C. Warskulat, Georges Massiot (2012) · Organic Letters
Evaluation of physiological responses and tolerance to low-temperature stress of four Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule) varieties
Zhuo Huang, Jiao He, Dong Xia, Xiao-Juan Zhong (2016) · Journal of Plant Interactions
Alkaloids fromPapaver nudicauleL.
Ralitsa Istatkova, Stefan Philipov, Gerelt-Od Yadamsurenghiin, Javzan Samdan (2008) · Natural Product Research
Molecular Network-Guided Alkaloid Profiling of Aerial Parts of Papaver nudicaule L. Using LC-HRMS
Kwangho Song, Jae‐Hyeon Oh, Min Young Lee, Seok‐Geun Lee (2020) · Molecules

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Papaver 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 14 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 24 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.