M. 'Ardcuil'
A late emerging and late flowering cultivar with an airy appearance. Of garden origin, parentage unknown.
Named by: E. Stevens, 2015. Registered by: E. Stevens, 2015.
Flowering: late May to July. Sky-blue or sometimes pinkish-blue bowl-shaped flowers with smooth-edged ovate petals which slightly overlap at their base. The petals tend to be retained as the fruit capsules develop and turn to become vertical.
Emerging foliage: The firm, ascending, broadly ovate leaves with a dense covering of pale hairs emerge in late spring.
Mature foliage: The mature basal leaves develop long petioles. The leaf blades are oval-elliptic to oblong-elliptic with a few shallow teeth in their margins. Leaf tips are sub-obtuse. The stem leaves clasp the stem in an upright manner.
Fruit capsule: Narrowly ellipsoid with a broad base, fairly densely covered with short pale bristles. The style is slender with a rounded prominent stigma. Sterile.
Etymology: This cultivar was submitted to The Meconopsis Group naming trial by a number of donors. It was named after the home in Perthshire of Major-General Murray-Lyon where it is thought that this plant may have originally been grown in the mid-20th century.