A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the source of the narcotic drug mixture opium, which contains powerful medicinal alkaloids such as morphine and has been used since ancient times as an analgesic and narcotic medicinal and recreational drug. It also produces edible seeds. Following the trench warfare in the poppy fields of Flanders, Belgium, during World War I, poppies have become a symbol of remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime, especially in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth realms.
Papaver is a genus of 70–100 species of frost-tolerant annuals, biennials, and perennials native to temperate and cold regions of Eurasia, Africa and North America. It is the type genus of the poppy family, Papaveraceae.
The Papaveraceae, informally known as the poppy family, are an economically important family of about 42 genera and approximately 775 known species of flowering plants in the order Ranunculales. The family is cosmopolitan, occurring in temperate and subtropical climates like Eastern Asia as well as California in North America. It is almost unknown in the tropics. Most are herbaceous plants, but a few are shrubs and small trees. The family currently includes two groups that have been considered to be separate families: Fumariaceae and Pteridophyllaceae. Papaver is the classical name for poppy in Latin.
Glaucium is a genus of about 25 species of annual, biennial or perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Papaveraceae, native to Europe, north Africa, and southwest and central Asia. The species commonly occur in saline habitats, including coasts and salt pans.
Meconopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the poppy family Papaveraceae. It was created by French botanist Viguier in 1814 for the species known by the common name Welsh poppy, which Carl Linnaeus had described as Papaver cambricum. The genus name means "poppy-like". Himalayan species discovered later were also placed in Meconopsis. In the 21st century, it was discovered that the Himalayan species were less closely related to the Welsh poppy, which has been restored to Papaver. All species now placed in Meconopsis are native to the Himalayas and surrounding regions. They have attractive, usually blue flowers.
Papaver cambricum, synonym Meconopsis cambrica, the Welsh poppy, is a perennial flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. It has yellow to orange flowers and is widely grown as a garden plant. It is a native of damp, rocky sites in upland areas of Western Europe from the British Isles to the Iberian Peninsula. It has been used since 2006 as the basis for the logo of the political party Plaid Cymru.
Meconopsis betonicifolia, the Himalayan blue poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It was first formally named for western science in 1912 by the British officer Lt. Col. Frederick Marshman Bailey.
Oreomecon nudicaulis, synonym Papaver nudicaule, the Iceland poppy, is a boreal flowering plant. Native to subpolar regions of Asia and North America, and the mountains of Central Asia as well as temperate China, Iceland poppies are hardy but short-lived perennials, often grown as biennials. They yield large, papery, bowl-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers supported by hairy, 1 foot (30 cm) curved stems among feathery blue-green foliage 1–6 inches long. They were first described by botanists in 1759. The wild species blooms in white or yellow, and is hardy from USDA Zones 3a-10b.
Meconopsis villosa, the Himalayan woodland-poppy, is an ornamental poppy, which is native of Nepal. The species was placed in the genus Cathcartia erected by J.D. Hooker to honour J.F. Cathcart, an Indian civil servant and amateur botanist who collected and hired native artists to illustrate the flowers of the Himalayas. It was transferred to Meconopsis by George Taylor in 1934. In 2017, it was suggested that the genus Cathcartia should be revived, and this species again treated as Cathcartia villosa.
Roemeria argemone is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. Its common names include long pricklyhead poppy, prickly poppy and pale poppy. Its native range includes parts of Eurasia and North Africa, but it can be found growing wild in parts of North America, where it is an introduced species. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant.
Papaver californicum is a species of poppy known by the common names fire poppy and western poppy.
Papaver alpinum, synonym Oreomecon alpina, the Alpine poppy or dwarf poppy, is a poppy found in the Alps. The circumscription of the species varies considerably. In some treatments, the species is one of a group of related species, and includes several subspecies, four of which are found in Austria. In other treatments, it includes species that have been treated as separate, and has at most one subspecies.
Meconopsis grandis, the Himalayan blue poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae, native to China (Yunnan), Bhutan, North East India and Nepal.
Meconopsis autumnalis, the Nepalese autumn poppy, is a yellow-flowered Himalayan poppy belonging to series Robustae, and is endemic to the Ganesh Himal range of central Nepal, where it was discovered in 2008 on a research expedition from the University of Aberdeen. In addition to several morphological features, the species is characterised by its late flowering period, which has more than likely resulted in a barrier to gene flow and subsequent evolutionary divergence from the closely related and sympatric species Meconopsis paniculata.The leaves (laminae) are hairy, pinnatisect and up to 22 inches in length, with a petiole up to 12.5 inches long. The flowers are pale yellow with four petals each up to 2.5 inches wide, for a total flower width of five inches.
Meconopsis manasluensis is a red-flowered Himalayan poppy belonging to Meconopsis subg. Discogyne, which forms a natural grouping of 6 or 7 species within the genus all characterised by a stylar disc surmounting the ovary. As reflected by the species etymology, M. manasluensis is endemic to the vicinity of the Manaslu Himal of Gorkha district, central Nepal, where it grows at high elevation and so far remains known only from its type collection locality.
Papaver setigerum, common name poppy of Troy or dwarf breadseed poppy, is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Papaveraceae.
Meconopsis bella is commonly known as the pretty blue poppy. M. bella is a species of the genus Meconopsis which is found from central Nepal to southeastern Tibet. It is a herbaceous flowering plant and is a part of the poppy family Papaveraceae. This plant is also referred to as Meconopsis bella prain, since it was aptly names by the botanist Prain.
Papaveroideae is a subfamily of the family Papaveraceae.
Papaver heterophyllum, previously known as Stylomecon heterophylla, and better known as the wind poppy, is a winter annual herbaceous plant. It is endemic to the western California Floristic Province and known to grow in the area starting from the San Francisco Bay Area of Central Western California southwards to northwestern Baja California, Mexico. Its main habitat is often described as mesic and shady, with loamy soils such as soft sandy loam, clay loam, and leaf mold loam.
Roemeria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Papaveraceae, native to Macaronesia, Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Caucasus, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, the western Himalayas, Pakistan, Xinjiang, and Mongolia. A 2006 molecular analysis revised the taxonomy of Papaver, elevating Roemeria to the genus level, and including the species formerly in Papaver sect. Argemonidium.
