Meconopsis gakyidiana

The Bhutanese Blue Poppy, Gakyidiana poppy, or the Tshengenmeto, (Meconopsis gakyidiana) is a blue poppy. It was recently renamed. Yes, the Bhutanese Blue Poppy was named Maconopsis Gakyidiana after the country’s guiding philosophy, Gross National Happiness. Gakyid means Happiness and Diana is the term for a Flower. The common name is still Blue Poppy in English and Tshengenmeto in Dzongkha, the language of Bhutan. The Bhutanese Blue Poppy is one of the rarest flowers in the world. It’s good luck if you find one. It also means you’re fortunate to be trekking in the mountains of Bhutan above 11,000 feet. And finding a Blue Poppy is believed to foreshadow a greater sense of clarity in the near future. So it’s triple luck.

Blue Poppy

Another two new species of blue poppy were also discovered in addition to the national flower of Bhutan. They are named as Meconopsis merakensis and Meconopsis elongata. The new species can be found in Merak (མེ་རག), Sagteng (སག་སྟེང་) and Haa (ཧཱ) regions in Bhutan.