HYPECOACEAE

family of the poppy order (Papaverales) intermediate in character between the other two families of the order, Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae. The 15 species of the only genus, Hypecoum, are herbs containing a watery sap. All species have alternate, glaucous (gray waxy-powdered), deeply divided leaves, and small regular flowers with four stamens and four petals in two whorls. The inner petals often are lobed. The plants occur in warm temperate areas from the Mediterranean to eastern Asia. One species, H. procumbens, from southern Europe, has been cultivated as a hardy garden annual for its dainty loose clusters of bright yellow, cupped blooms borne on 30-centimetre- (1-foot-) tall plants.