Description
This 12-20 in. perennial with gray-green, lobed and toothed leaves is known for its large, poppy-like, yellow flowers. The stalks are leafy and the flowers are produced in small clusters, atop a stem bearing a pair of deeply lobed leaves; other leaves basal. Plant has yellow sap.
This is a fine species to grow in Eastern wildflower gardens, far less aggressive than the introduced European species. The species name, Greek for βtwo-leaved,β refers to the pair of opposite leaves below the flower.
Occurs in nature from western Pennsylvania north to Wisconsin and Michigan, south to Arkansas, Tennessee, and southwestern Virginia, with isolated populations in northern Alabama and southern Ontario. Because its range is so limited in that province, it is listed as a Species Endangered by Canadaβs SARA (Species at Risk Act) and by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada).
