- Botanical name: Stylophorum diphyllum
- Other common names: Wood poppy
- Light: part shade, shade
- Water needs: low, medium, high
- Soil: clay, loam, sand, gravel
- Height: up to 1 foot
- Bloom: March, April
- Sociability: 2
- Wildlife value: Bees, small mammals eat the seeds
Wood poppy is a perennial shade-loving ground cover with happy yellow 4-petaled flowers that blooms in the spring. After blooming, it creates green hair-covered fruit pods. Note that the fruit pods and stems contain yellow sap that can stain your skin. This plant can slowly spread to form a ground cover.
There is a similar non-native aggressive species called Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus) which crowds out native spring ephemerals. It has been found in our area in Red Bank on Dayton Boulevard. The most telling difference is seed pod shape. See here for more info.
If soil dries out (as is common in our area), plants will go dormant in the summer.
Spreading notes: Not particularly aggressive, but can self-seed and spread by rhizomes. Seeds are spread by ants.
Maintenance notes: Control by removing fruit pods
Sources: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/, https://www.wildflower.org/plants/, https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/plantfindersearch.aspx
