Meconopsis simplicifolia (D. Don) Walp., Repert. Bot. Syst. 1: 110. 1842; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 118. 1872. Papaver simplicifolium D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 197. 1825.

Herbs, polycarpic or sometimes monocarpic, 30 - 70 cm high, brownish bristly throughout; stem bases clothed with rufous-bristly persistent leaf sheaths; taproots slender, elongated. Leaves all basal, oblanceolate, spathulate, or elliptie-lanceolate, long-attentuate at base, obtuse or subacute at apex, 4 - 15 x 1 - 3 cm, entire or with a few teeth or shallow rounded lobes on margins; petioles 0.5 - 25 cm long. Flowers solitary, nodding on 5 - 70 cm long, 1 - 5 scapes arising from rosette leaves; pedicels densely bristly. Sepals broadly oblong, obtuse, 20 - 25 x 10 - 12 mm, rufous bristly. Petals 5 - 9, obovate, 25 - 50 x 15 - 30 mm, blue or purple. Filaments 8 - 20 mm long, coloured as petals; anthers ca 2 mm long. Ovary ellipsoid or oblong; styles slender with stout capitate stigmas. Capsules oblong-ellipsoid, 3 - 7 x 1 - 1.5 cm, slightly constricted above base, thinly bristly, with 4 - 9 valves dehiscing in upper one-third; seeds ovoid-ellipsoid, ca 3 mm long, densely papillose.

Fl. & Fr. May - Oct.

Distrib. India: E. Himalayas, on rocky alpine hillsides, 3000 - 4800 m. Sikkim.

Nepal, Bhutan and China (Tibet only).

Notes. Chromosome no. n = 41 or 42 (Ratter in Notes R. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 28: 191 - 200. 1967).