Stems greenish white, 4-8 dm, with 100-300 prickles per cm² on main stem below capsule, longest prickles 7-10 mm. Leaf blades: surfaces usually densely prickly on veins and intervein areas. Inflorescences: bud prickles simple. Capsules densely prickly, surface partially obscured, prickles unequal, longest 7-10 mm. 2 n = 28. Flowering spring; fruiting spring-summer. Dry desert ranges; 150-850 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev.

PLANTS: Much like subsp. rotundata except: STEMS: greenish-white, with 70-110 prickles per square cm of surface, the largest prickles 7-10 mm long. LEAVES: less prickly, 60-80 prickles per square cm of surface below, 20-40 above. FLOWER: buds with sepal horns 7-10 mm long, the base of the apical prickle not so flattened and indurated. CAPSULES: with 40-60 prickles per square cm of surface, the largest prickles 7-10 nun long. 2n = 28. NOTES: See also the parent taxon for further description. Washes, sandy or granitic soils, desert: La Paz, Mohave cos.; 450-600 m (1500-2000 ft); Mar-May; se CA, s NV. REFERENCES: Ownbey, Gerald B., Jeffrey W. Brasher, and Curtis Clark. 1998 Papaveraceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. 30(2): 120.