Horned-poppy, Yellow

Information on Yellow Horned-poppy

Common Name: Yellow Horned-poppy
Scientific Name: Glaucium flavum
Irish Name: Caillichín na trá
Family Group: Papaveraceae
Distribution: View Map (Courtesy of the BSBI)
Flowering Period


Click for list of all flowering by month
Yellow Horned-poppy is not easily confused with other wild plants on this web site.


Along the shingle beaches of some of Wicklow's coastline, this wildflower is a splendid sight from June to September. The solitary flowers (6-8cm across) have 4 orange-yellow petals with numerous stamens, The plant is very well suited to withstand the sea-winds as it has stout stems and thick, fleshy, lobed leaves, the upper leaves clasping the stem. It's a slightly hairy perennial, reaches to 90cm high, and all of the plant is poisonous. The seeds are borne in a long, curved capsule – sometimes up to 30cm long -  which splits lengthwise to allow the seeds to escape.  These seed-pods give the Poppy  it's 'horn'.  This is a native plant and it belongs to the family Papaveraceae.  

The first time I saw this plant was in 1978, on the beach between the sea and the railway track at Newcastle, Co Wicklow.  I photographed it there 30 years later.

If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre

This species is classed as NEAR THREATENED in the Red Data List of Vascular Plants 2016.

Horned-poppy, Yellow
Horned-poppy, Yellow
Horned-poppy, Yellow
Horned-poppy, Yellow