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opium poppy

Habit Glaucous annual, the usually simple stems 3-10 dm. tall, glabrous below.
Leaves

Leaves alternate, sessile and cordate-clasping, shallowly lobed, the lobes toothed, the margins somewhat crinkly.

Flowers

Flowers single on long, bristly, terminal peduncles;

sepals 2, separately early-deciduous;

petals 4, white to purple, large, wavy-margined;

stamens numerous;

style absent, stigma sessile, disk-like, with 5-15 round, stigmatic ridges.

Fruits

Capsule glabrous, sub-globose, 2.5-5 cm. long.

Papaver somniferum

Papaver orientale

Flowering time May-July
Habitat Waste areas, roadsides, and other disturbed areas.
Distribution
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across various parts of North America to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Introduced from Eurasia
Conservation status Not of concern
Sibling taxa
P. argemone, P. dubium, P. rhoeas
P. argemone, P. dubium, P. rhoeas, P. somniferum
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