It is an annual or perennial herb with branching, erect stems up to 1.5 meters tall.

The Sacramento prickly poppy has traditionally been recognized as a third subspecies, A. p. ssp.

pinnatisecta, but was recently raised to specific rank based on genetic analyses.

[1] This is a rare species known only from the western slope of the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico.

It is treated as a federally listed endangered species in the United States.