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

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

blind eyes, long-head poppy, long-pod poppy

Habit Plants to 15 dm, glabrate, glaucous. Plants to 7 dm, hirsute to hispid.
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 20 cm.

Inflorescences

peduncle often sparsely setose.

peduncle proximally spreading-hispid, distally appressed-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.

petals orange to red, rarely with dark basal spot, to 3 cm;

anthers violet;

stigmas 7-9, disc ± flat.

Capsules

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

sessile or substipitate, narrowly obovoid, usually distinctly ribbed, to 2 cm, 2 times or more longer than broad.

Papaver somniferum

Papaver dubium

Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Fields, clearings, stream banks, railroads, roadsides, and other disturbed sites Fields, glades, dunes, stream banks, marshy areas, railroads, roadsides, 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
AR; CT; DC; DE; IL; KS; MA; MD; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; VA; WV; NB; ON; QC; Greenland; Europe; sw Asia [Introduced in North America]
[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.)

In its native range, Papaver dubium is a tetraploid complex of five subspecies whose morphologies and distributions intersect to a considerable degree (J. W. Kadereit 1989, 1990). Probably several, if not all, of these entities have been introduced in North America, but it is fruitless to try to distinguish them here, where the species has arrived as a crop weed and the subspecies have no geographic integrity.

Papaver dubium sometimes seems to intergrade with P. rhoeas, at least in North America. The most readily evident character for distinguishing them reliably is the nature of the distal pubescence on the peduncles–whether spreading or appressed.

(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. Rhoeadium
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. californicum, 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) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1196. (1753)
Web links