Papaver somniferum |
Papaver |
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common garden poppy, common poppy, opium poppy, pavot (commun) |
pavot, poppy |
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Habit | Plants to 15 dm, glabrate, glaucous. | Herbs, annual, biennial, or perennial, scapose or caulescent, from taproots; sap white, orange, or red. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | simple or branching. |
when present leafy. |
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Leaves | to 30 cm; blade sometimes sparsely setose abaxially on midrib; margins usually shallowly to deeply toothed. |
basal rosulate, petiolate; cauline alternate, proximal leaves petiolate, distal subsessile or sessile, sometimes clasping (in P. somniferum); blade unlobed or 1-3x pinnately lobed or parted; margins entire or toothed, scalloped, or incised. |
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Inflorescences | peduncle often sparsely setose. |
cymiform, with flowers disposed in 1s, 2s or 3s on long scapes or peduncles; bracts present; buds nodding [erect]. |
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Flowers | petals white, pink, red, or purple, often with dark or pale basal spot, to 6 cm; anthers pale yellow; stigmas 5-18, disc ± flat. |
sepals 2(-3), distinct; petals 4(-6); stamens many; pistil 3-18[-22]-carpellate; ovary 1-locular, sometimes incompletely multilocular by placental intrusion; style absent; stigmas 3-18[-22], radiating on sessile, ± lobed disc, velvety. |
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Capsules | stipitate, subglobose, not ribbed, to 9 cm, glaucous. |
erect, 3-18[-22]-pored or short-valved immediately beneath persistent or sometimes deciduous (in P. hybridum) stigmatic disc. |
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Seeds | many, minutely pitted, aril absent. |
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x | = 7. |
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Papaver somniferum |
Papaver |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Fields, clearings, stream banks, railroads, roadsides, and other disturbed sites | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0-1300 m (0-4300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CT; IL; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; ND; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OR; PA; TX; UT; VA; VT; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; SK; Greenland; Europe; Asia [Introduced in North America]
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Temperate and arctic North America; Eurasia; n Africa; s Africa; Australia |
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Discussion | Unknown in the wild, Papaver somniferum probably came originally from southeastern Europe and/or southwestern Asia. It has been cultivated for centuries as the source of opium (and its modern derivatives heroin, morphine, and codeine), and also for edible seeds and oil. Various color forms with laciniate and/or doubled petals are grown for ornament. Widely introduced from cultivation and also as a crop weed, it should be expected elsewhere in the flora. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species 70-100 (16 in the flora). Papaver is rich in alkaloids, notably opiates. The genus is quite complex cytologically; in addition to diploids, there are numerous polyploid species and some that apparently are aneuploid. Most commonly, n = 7 or a multiple, and 2n ranges from 14 to over 100. There are published chromosome counts for almost every taxon in the flora, but for the introduced species none has been made from wild-collected North American material. The scapose poppies in the flora are native; the caulescent ones, except Papaver californicum, are introduced Eurasian ornamentals, crop weeds, and ballast waifs. All the scapose species are confined to arctic and alpine habitats. Plants of the introduced caulescent species, especially P. rhoeas, P. dubium, and P. somniferum, vary greatly in size, and surprisingly diminutive mature individuals are sometimes found, especially northward. Excluded species: Papaver dahlianum Nordhagen, Bergens Mus. Årbok 2: 46. 1931 Papaver radicatum Rottbfll subsp. dahlianum (Nordhagen) Rändel We regard this species as being restricted to arctic Europe, a narrower circumscription than U. Rändel's (1977). Papaver microcarpum de Candolle, Syst. Nat. 2: 71. 1821 We are so far unable to substantiate D. Löve's (1969) report of this essentially Asiatic species "from Seward and Kenai peninsulas in Alaska, the Aleutian Islands." (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Papaveraceae > Papaver > sect. Papaver | Papaveraceae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 508. (1753) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 506. 175: Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 224. (1754) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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