Appearance
It is an annual or perennial herb with branching, erect stems up to 1.5 meters tall. The plant is covered in prickles, often densely. The blue-green leaves are divided into sharp, toothlike lobes.The flower buds are up to 2 centimeters long and covered in prickles. They bloom into showy white-petalled flowers which may be up to 16 centimeters wide. The fruit is a capsule up to 4.5 centimeters long which is covered in prickles.
Naming
There are two subspecies of this plant.⤷ ''A. p.'' ssp. ''pleiacantha'' is the only subspecies to occur in Mexico.
⤷ ''A. p.'' ssp. ''ambigua'' is endemic to Arizona.
The Sacramento prickly poppy has traditionally been recognized as a third subspecies, ''A. p.'' ssp. ''pinnatisecta'', but was recently raised to specific rank based on genetic analyses. This is a rare species known only from the western slope of the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico. It is treated as a federally listed endangered species in the United States.
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