Herbs , annual, biennial, or perennial, caulescent, glaucous, from taproots; sap yellow. Stems leafy, sometimes becoming woody at base. Leaves: basal rosulate, petiolate; cauline alternate, sessile; blades 1-2× pinnately lobed [unlobed]. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, 1-flowered; bracts present. Flowers: sepals 2, distinct; petals 4; stamens many; pistil 2-carpellate; ovary 2-locular; style absent or indistinct; stigma 2-lobed. Capsules erect, 2-valved, dehiscing from apex [base]. Seeds many, dark brown, reticulate-pitted, embedded in pithy septum, aril absent. x = 6.

Sep 2; pet 4, yellow; ovary cylindric, bilocular; stigmas sessile, 2-lobed; fr elongate, usually curved, bilocular, dehiscent from the top downward by elongate valves; herbs with saffron-colored juice, large, pinnately lobed lvs, and large, yellow fls terminating the branches or on leafy-bracted axillary peduncles. 20, Eurasia.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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