My Corner Online

Flower Index Index by Family Set 1 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Set 6

Callirhoe involucrata | Purple Poppy Mallow, Winecup

First Bloom Dates:

2017 May 20

2019 May 24

2022 May 11

2023 May 4

2024 April 14

Callirhoe involucrata | Purple Poppy Mallow, Winecup

Malvaceae ( Mallow or Hibiscus Family) Pronounced Mahl-vay-see-eye

Pronounced Cal-eh-row-ee In-vol-uh-crate-uh

The name "Callirhoe" is from Greek mythology as the name of a daughter of the river god Achelous. Thomas Nuttall (1786–1859) was the person who named the plant. He was a botanist with a fascinating life of expeditions which included the Louisiana Purchase area of Missouri where he collected plant specimens and contributed greatly to scientific knowledge.

The name "involcurate" means "with an involucre" which is a ring, or whorl, of bracts around a flower.

My husband calls this “Purple Poppy Mallow Wallow” just because it rhymes and is fun to say.

The Purple Poppy Mallow have become one of my favorite flowers. I love the color, I love that they take over the whole bed and I save money and time with annuals, drought tolerant so it needs little watering, and I love that they are low maintenance.

The plant is a native plant here in Missouri, which is also be big plus. It likes the sun and is drought tolerant.

The flowers are a magnificent magenta color with a cup shape, hence why it is sometimes called a winecup. The flowers are fairly small, but when there is a mass of them atop of the leaves they really stand out and make you take notice. The flowers have five petals and are poppy-like, hence the common name. They bloom all Summer long which is a huge plus.

The leaves are easily recognizable to me, even when they are a new growth popping up. The leaves are palmately and deeply lobed.

As the gardener's saying goes, they plants are true to the "sleep, creep, leap" pattern in that the first year they hardly grow, the second year they slowly creep along, and the third year they leap and fill the entire huge bed! I do not even need to buy annuals because they spread so far and bloom so long that they leave no space for other plants. I am okay with that as it saves me money. Patience pays off with these plants. (Here is the first video I created on "sleep, creep, leap.")

I have had baby plants pop up from seed and have been giving them away. The deer and rabbit have eaten on mine, but since we do not have a huge problem with deer and rabbit, I keep some spray on hand in case I need to chase them away. Of course I have to apply it again every time it rains, but it does work.

I have planted the similar variety of Bush’s poppy mallow (Callirhoe bushii) and not liked it enough to keep it around.

The roots are edible and the Native Americans and early American travelers ate them. They were also used by the Native Americans to make a pain reliever.

My first photos were in 2015, so I must have planted it that year or the year before.

2024

This photo shows that the name "involcurate" means "with an involucre" which is a ring, or whorl, of bracts around a flower.

This shows the shape of the leaves.

This is an example of a baby plant that is "sleep" mode.

This shows a second year plant that is in "creep" mode.

This shows a plant that is in "leap" mode.

This is another first year plant in "sleep" mode.

This is another second year plant in "creep" mode.

2023

Just a cell phone photo to document the date of first bloom.

2022

2020

This looks like the third year for those in the front bed, which means it was planted in 2017. I remember ordering another one online as the first one in the back yard got eaten by rabbits. This one has done very well in this spot.