Meconopsis ‘Marit’ is a white-flowered sterile cultivar, which originated in Norway. It is named after Marit Espejord, who raised the plant. It was introduced to Britain in 1998 via Finn Haugli, who was Director of the Arctic-Alpine Botanic garden at Tromsø at that time.
The cultivar has an interesting if perplexing history. In the 1980’s Marit Espejord used Meconopsis × sarsonsii, grown from seed supplied by the Swedish seed exchange, as a seed parent and Meconopsis ‘Lingholm’, grown from seed supplied by Thompson and Morgan, to provide pollen. Meconopsis ‘Marit’ was the best of the three resultant seedlings. Unfortunately, Meconopsis × sarsonsii, a cross between M. baileyi and M. integrifolia, is sterile, so the exact history of the cultivar is unclear.
Very, very occasionally traces of blue are observed on the white petals.