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common garden poppy, common poppy, opium poppy, pavot (commun)

pale poppy

Habit Plants to 15 dm, glabrate, glaucous. Plants cespitose, to 1.5 dm.
Stems

simple or branching.

Leaves

to 30 cm;

blade sometimes sparsely setose abaxially on midrib;

margins usually shallowly to deeply toothed.

to 4 cm;

petiole 1/2 length of leaf or less;

blade gray-green on both surfaces, broadly lanceolate, 1-2x-lobed with 1 or 2 pairs of primary lateral lobes, white- to brown-setose;

primary lobes obovate to strap-shaped, margins sometimes toothed, apex obtuse-rounded to acute, bristle-tipped.

Inflorescences

peduncle often sparsely setose.

scapes often decumbent, bowed, spreading-hispid.

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.

to 2.5 cm diam.;

petals white to rose with yellow basal spot;

anthers yellow;

stigmas 5-7, disc convex.

Capsules

stipitate, subglobose, not ribbed, to 9 cm, glaucous.

subglobose to ellipsoid, to 1.3 cm, 1-2 times longer than broad, strigose, trichomes light (ivory).

2n

= 28.

Papaver somniferum

Papaver alboroseum

Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Fields, clearings, stream banks, railroads, roadsides, and other disturbed sites Rocky tundra of ridges and mountain summits, ash and cinder slopes, and in sand and gravel of glacial outwash and river flood plains
Elevation 0-1300 m (0-4300 ft) 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
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]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; BC; YT; Asia (Russian Far East, Kamchatka)
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Papaver alboroseum is infrequent at scattered localities on high mountains within the area mapped. It is locally and unusually abundant in gravels below the terminus of the Portage Glacier, near Anchorage, Alaska. Reports of its presence in arctic Alaska are based on misidentifications of P. lapponicum.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Papaveraceae > Papaver > sect. Papaver Papaveraceae > Papaver > sect. Meconella
Sibling taxa
P. alboroseum, P. argemone, P. californicum, P. dubium, P. gorodkovii, P. hybridum, P. lapponicum, P. macounii, P. mcconnellii, P. nudicaule, P. orientale, P. pygmaeum, P. radicatum, P. rhoeas, P. walpolei
P. argemone, P. californicum, P. dubium, P. gorodkovii, P. hybridum, P. lapponicum, P. macounii, P. mcconnellii, P. nudicaule, P. orientale, P. pygmaeum, P. radicatum, P. rhoeas, P. somniferum, P. walpolei
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 508. (1753) Hultén: Fl. Kamtchatka 2: 141, plate 3, fig. c. (1928)
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