Papaver somniferum

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.

A robust annual herb, (20-) 30-100 (-120) cm tall, apparently glabrous, glaucous, rarely branched. Leaves ovate-oblong, cordate-amplexicaul except the lowest which usually narrows into a short stalk, undulate, serrate, crenate or dentate, often with larger teeth alternating with smaller ones, (sometimes pinnatipartite or pinnatifid), usually 5-15 cm long. Peduncle (5-) 10-20 (-25) cm long, glabrous or sparsely bristly. Flower bud ovoid-oblong, (10-) 15-25 (-30) mm long. Flowers large, showy, usually 5-10 cm in diam., white, pinkish or reddish, rarely pale violet, with or without a basal dark blotch. Sepals glabrous, caducous, as large as the bud. Petals about twice as long as the sepals, obovate-orbicular, with margin usually wavy or variously cut, caducous. Stamens as long as the ovary with, usually yellowish filaments; anthers 2-4 mm long, oblong-linear. Capsule subglabrous smooth with a rounded base often abruptly ending into a very short stipe (1-2 mm long); stigmatic disk somewhat shorter than the capsule breadth, with deeply cut marginal lobes and usually 8-12 (-18) stigma rays, not quite reaching the edges of the lobes; seeds small, white, dark-grey to black.

Plants to 15 dm, glabrate, glaucous. Stems simple or branching. Leaves to 30 cm; blade sometimes sparsely setose abaxially on midrib; margins usually shallowly to deeply toothed. Inflorescences: peduncle often sparsely setose. 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. Capsules stipitate, subglobose, not ribbed, to 9 cm, glaucous.

Fields, clearings, stream banks, railroads, roadsides, and other disturbed sites; 0-1300m.