Poppy

A poppy is any of a number of colorful flowers, typically with one per stem, belonging to the poppy family. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with colorful flowers found growing singularly or in large groups; many species are also grown in gardens. Those that are grown in gardens include large plants used in a mixed herbaceous border and small plants that are grown in rock or alpine gardens.

Poppies on Lake Geneva in Montreux.

Yellow or California poppy, in New Delhi.

The flower color of poppy species include: white, pink, yellow, orange, red, and blue; some have dark center markings. The species that have been cultivated for many years also include many other colors ranging from dark solid colors to soft pastel shades. The center of the flower has a whorl of stamens surrounded by a cup- or bowl-shaped collection of four to six petals. Prior to blooming, the petals are crumpled in bud, and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away.

The pollen of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, is dark blue. The pollen of the field poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is dark blue to grey. Bees will use poppies as a pollen source.

Poppies may be found in the genera:

Meconopsis – Himalayan poppy, Welsh poppy and relatives.
Papaver – Iceland poppy, Oriental poppy, Opium poppy, corn poppy and about 120 other species.
Romneya – Matilija poppy and relatives.
Eschscholzia – California poppy and relatives.
Stylophorum – Celandine-poppy, mock poppy, yellow-poppy, wood-poppy.
Argemone – Prickly-poppy
Canbya – Pygmy-poppy
Stylomecon – Wind-poppy
Arctomecon – Desert bearpaw-poppy
Hunnemannia – Tulip poppy
Dendromecon – Tree poppy

Uses

All species of poppies are attractive and most are cultivated as ornamental garden plants. A few species have other uses, principally as sources of drugs and foods. One species is so widely used, for both drugs and food, that its world production is monitored by international agencies. That species is the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. It is grown for opium and opiates obtained from it, poppy seed for use in cooking and baking, poppyseed oil for both culinary and other uses, and as an ornamental garden plant.

Gallery of poppy images

Close-up of an Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale). Ontario, Canada. June 2002.
A poppy bud and plant.
Immature crowning Opium Poppy, top view.
A poppy bud opening.
Papaver somniferum seeds.
Papaver rhoeas.
Closeup of a poppy flower in private garden, Derbyshire, England, UK, May 2007.
Close up view of a poppy bloom (and buds in the background). Papaver somniferum.
Closeup of a poppy flower at the Monastery of Lorch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
California Poppy.
Field of poppies, from a photograph by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, taken ca. 1912.
A wild field of poppies, above the Wye Valley, UK, in June 2006.
Poppies near Kelling, North Norfolk, UK, in June 2002
Close up of white poppy seeds. There are about 140,000 poppy seeds to the ounce<ref>Dr. Hutchins, R. E. 1965. The Amazing Seeds.
The Field or Corn poppy Papaver rhoeas.
Poppies in a Polish field.