cowboys' fried eggs

[Kali]

AKA prickly poppy

[Ptah]

1. WooHoo

These are good pics, Kali!

It looks like some kind of thistle.

:shrug:

[Kali]

2. Nope they are really in the poppy family

tend to show up in beat out, overgrazed areas (these are by the barn/corrals)

Supposedly they contains some psychoactive substances but I have never tried them.
from http://www.bouncingbearbotanicals.com/prickly-poppy-p-149.html : Mexican Prickly Poppy is from the Papaveraceae family and is native to mexico. Argemone mexicana has many medicinal uses: It has been used as an anesthetic for surgery; It has been used to treat cancer, the common cold, fever, inflammation, and toothache. This poppies chemical constituents include protopine, berberine, and several isoquinilines. It has been ritualistically used as a smudging herb.

here's a thistle:

[Nicole]

3. How pretty

Such lovely blooms on ugly stems.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Looks like a spiny version of its California cousin

Matilija poppy, another one that looks like a sunny side up fried egg.

[Kali]

6. those aren't spiny?

flower sure looks the same

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Not as I recall, and the plant and blooms are enormous.

Plants are 5 to 6 ft tall in most places and the bloom is about the diameter of a salad plate.

[BlackVelvet04]

5. I want some of those in my yard. n/t

[Kali]

7. they like "waste" places like roadsides but rainfal here is less than 16 inches

Google prickly poppy - I saw some sites selling seeds (and other products) you could try.

[leftofthedial]

8. purty

yesterday, I had two long gigs outdoors in the sun and then another gig last night. I tell you, along about midnight, this cowboy's huevos were pretty fried.