The Purple Poppy Mallow is the name that the USDA website likes for this wildflower. From the title of this post, you might guess that folks have used several common names for this species. Callirhoe involucrata in the family Malvaceae is the scientific name for this species. The nice thing for scientists and the reason for scientific names is that one and only one species is called Callirhoe involucrata. By doing this, scientists remove all of the confusion created by common names and their use allows discussions about plants and animals  to proceed without having to redefine which is which.

I happen to like winecup as the common name because of its brevity and because it evokes a mental image of the flower of Callirhoe involucrata. Cowboy roses evoke a more poetic image but leads to misunderstandings about what kind of plant under consideration. Purple Poppy Mallow is more accurate in terms of coloration and holds a clue to the Mallow family: Malvaceae. However you refer to them, they are beautiful flowers on long stems.

As you can see, the long stem helps them rise above the competition.

On a rainy day, long ago, I stopped to photograph this bloom. I have never seen this color variation since then. None of my references mention this color either.

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