PAPAVER SOMNIFERUM

Family and Genus:- See- PAPAVERACEAE/Sect. PAPAVER

Common Names:- Opium poppy

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Papaver (L) Poppy.

Somniferum (L) Sleep inducing, sleep-bearing.

General description:- Herb, often strongly covered with a waxy bloom ± glaucous.

Stem:-

1) 25-70 cm tall, sparingly branched above, glabrous or sparsely setose

Leaves:-

1) Margins, serrate, dentate, incised or pinnatipartite.

2) Upper, sessile, amplexicaul.

3) Lower, usually petiolate.

4) Pedicels, glabrous or patent -or appressed-setose.

Flower:-

1) Solitary on long pedicels.

2) Buds, glabrous or patent- or appressed-setose.

3) Petals, 30-60 mm, mauve to pale violet, usually with dark basal marks.

4) Filaments, filiform or clavate.

5) Anthers, yellow to green or brown.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 1·4-9·5 x 0·8-6·5 cm, 1-2 times as long as wide, ovoid, ellipsoidal,

cylindrical or globose, distinctly stipitate, dehiscent or not.

2) Stigmatic disc, not wider than the capsule, with 5-18(-22) rays. flat topped or

rarely round and umbonate.

Key features:-

1) Filaments, filiform or clavate.

2) Capsules, not setose.

3) Stigmatic disc, flat or rarely round and umbonate.

4) Upper cauline leaves, amplexicaul.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Arable land, waste places, hillsides, vineyards and waysides. Cultivated

since ancient times as a food and drug plant. 0-300 m

Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. Probably native to SW Asia. Cultivated

in Crete (for ornament or the edible seeds) and may be locally naturalized.

Flowering time:- Apr to early June.

Photo by:- Fotis Samaritakis