M. 'James Aitken'
A cultivar of garden origin closely related to M. ‘Keillour’.
Named by: E. Stevens, 2015. Registered by: E. Stevens, 2015.
Flowering: mid-May to June. Saucer-shaped, half-nodding to lateral facing, dark blue-purple flowers with a paler blue centre. The broadly ovate petals are overlapping and pleated.
Emerging foliage: Late emerging firm broad upright leaves on short, winged petioles.
Mature foliage: The mature elliptic-oblong basal leaves have short and often narrowly winged petioles. The lamina base is shortly attenuate and the apex sub-obtuse. The leaf margins are shallowly crenate.
Fruit capsule: Relatively short and broadly barrel-shaped, densely covered with straw-coloured bristles. Short squat style and a large broad stigma.
Etymology: Named after James Aitken, a nurseryman in Perth, who had been given this cultivar by Mrs Knox-Finlay of Keillour Castle as ‘Betty's Dream Poppy’. It does not show the characteristics of the George Sherriff Group however and is obviously closely related to M. ‘Keillour’.