Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Papaver somniferum

Papaver californicum

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

fire poppy, western poppy
Habit Plants to 15 dm, glabrate, glaucous. Plants to 6.5 dm, glabrate or sparsely pilose.
Stems

simple or branching.

simple or branching.
Leaves

to 30 cm;

blade sometimes sparsely setose abaxially on midrib;

margins usually shallowly to deeply toothed.

to 15 cm.
Inflorescences

peduncle often sparsely setose.

peduncle glabrous or sparsely pilose.
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.

petals light orange or orange-red, with pink-edged, greenish basal spot, to 2.5 cm;

anthers yellow;

stigmas 4-8(-11), disc conic, usually umbonate.
Capsules

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

sessile, ellipsoid to obovoid-turbinate, distinctly ribbed, to 1.8 cm.
2n

= 28.

Papaver somniferum

Papaver californicum
Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering spring.
Habitat Fields, clearings, stream banks, railroads, roadsides, and other disturbed sites Chaparral and oak woodlands, especially in grassy areas, clearings, burns and other disturbed sites
Elevation 0-1300 m (0-4300 ft) 0-900 m (0-3000 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
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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 californicum grows in central western and southwestern California in the Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular ranges. This is the only caulescent poppy, and the only annual one, native to the flora. In the past it has been included in Papaver sect. Rhoeadium, together with the other annuals that have glabrous capsules and distal leaves not clasping, which are native to Eurasia. Recently, based on differences in filament color, stigmatic disc shape, and capsule dehiscence, J. W. Kadereit (1988b) assigned P. californicum to a new monotypic section and suggested that it originated from the same stock as the perennial, scapose, arctic-alpine poppies (Papaver sect. Meconella).

(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. Californicum
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. alboroseum, P. argemone, 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
Synonyms P. lemmonii
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 508. (1753) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 22: 313. (1887)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers