About Eomecon chionantha Hance
Eomecon is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the poppy family, which contains only one species: Eomecon chionantha Hance. This species has the common names snow-poppy and dawn-poppy, and it is native to China. It is a perennial herb that grows stolons from its branching rootstock, spreading to form ground patches. Its roots are orange. All of its leaves are basal, growing on bluish petioles that can reach up to 30 centimeters long. Leaf blades are heart-shaped or kidney-shaped with wavy, scalloped edges. The blades are greenish, and sometimes have a purple tinge on their undersides. They can grow up to 26 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide. The plant's scape is blue-gray with a mauve tint, reaches up to 40 centimeters tall, and holds 3 to 5 flowers. The flower bud is pointed and around one centimeter long. An open flower has two membranous sepals that join together to form a spathe. It has four white petals arranged in two layers, each up to 2.5 centimeters long. At the center of the flower, there are more than 70 stamens with yellow anthers. The fruit of Eomecon chionantha is a capsule around 2 centimeters long. Extracts from this plant have been found effective for eliminating the freshwater snail Oncomelania hupensis, which is the intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum, the fluke that causes schistosomiasis. The molluscicidal active compounds in this plant are alkaloids.
