Herbs , perennial, scapose, from thick rhizomes; sap orange to red. Leaves 1, or few and rosulate, sheathing-petiolate; blade 1× palmately lobed. Inflorescences terminal, 1(-3)-flowered; bracts absent. Flowers: sepals 2, distinct; petals 6-12, unequal; stamens many; pistil 2-carpellate; ovary 1-locular; style ± distinct; stigma 2-lobed. Capsules erect, 2-valved, dehiscing from base. Seeds few to many, arillate. x = 9.

Sanguinaria is similar, and probably most closely related, to Eomecon Hance of eastern Asia, which is monotypic also.

Sep 2; pet 8, or to 16; ovary narrowed above to a short style terminated by a capitate, 2-lobed stigma; placentas 2; capsule fusiform, crowned by the persistent style, dehiscent from the base upwards by elongate valves; seeds arillate; perennial herb with red juice, from a stout rhizome that sends up a single, lobed lf and a large, white fl on a scape. Monospecific.

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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