Prickly blue poppy

This plant grows in rocky areas and grassy slopes at altitudes ranging from 3,100 to about 6,000 meters. The flowers, usually blue or reddish-blue, are 5 to 7.5 centimeters in size, and the stalks are usually less than 22 cm long. The plant is used in traditional Chinese medicine because of its anti-inflammatory and analgesic qualities.

It is hard for flowers to grow on the high-altitude plateau because of the low temperatures and strong winds.

Therefore, such plants are usually short and only have a few large petals, or alternatively many small petals, to attract insects for the purposes of fertilization.