All Topics  
Papaver

 
Papaver

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Papaver
 
 
  Topics Papaver Topic Home

Papaver is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of poppies
Poppy

A poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, typically withone per Plant stem, belonging to the Papaveraceae. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with showy flowers found growing singularly or in large groups; many species are also grown in gardens....
, belonging to the Poppy family (Papaveraceae
Papaveraceae

Papaveraceae is a family of flowering plants. The family has been universally recognized by taxonomists, and is also known as the "poppy family"....
).

Its 120-odd species include the opium poppy
Opium poppy

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the type of poppy from which opium and many refined opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine, are extracted....
 and corn poppy
Corn poppy

Papaver rhoeas is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It has a variety of common names, including the Corn Poppy, Field Poppy, Flanders Poppy, or Red Poppy, one of the many species and genera named poppy....
. These are annual
Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates flowers and dies in one year. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed....
, biennial and perennial
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 hardy, frost-tolerant plants growing natively in the temperate climates of Eurasia
Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
, Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
 and North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 (Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
, Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
). One section of the genus (Section Meconella) has an alpine and circumpolar arctic distribution and includes some of the most northerly-growing vascular land plants.

Papaver grows in disturbed soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Papaver'
Start a new discussion about 'Papaver'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Papaver is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of poppies
Poppy

A poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, typically withone per Plant stem, belonging to the Papaveraceae. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with showy flowers found growing singularly or in large groups; many species are also grown in gardens....
, belonging to the Poppy family (Papaveraceae
Papaveraceae

Papaveraceae is a family of flowering plants. The family has been universally recognized by taxonomists, and is also known as the "poppy family"....
).

Its 120-odd species include the opium poppy
Opium poppy

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the type of poppy from which opium and many refined opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine, are extracted....
 and corn poppy
Corn poppy

Papaver rhoeas is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It has a variety of common names, including the Corn Poppy, Field Poppy, Flanders Poppy, or Red Poppy, one of the many species and genera named poppy....
. These are annual
Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates flowers and dies in one year. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed....
, biennial and perennial
Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
 hardy, frost-tolerant plants growing natively in the temperate climates of Eurasia
Eurasia

Eurasia is a large landmass covering about 53,990,000 km? or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface . Often considered a single continent, Eurasia comprises the traditional continents of Europe and Asia, concepts which date back to classical antiquity and the borders for which are somewhat arbitrary....
, Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
 and North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 (Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
, Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
). One section of the genus (Section Meconella) has an alpine and circumpolar arctic distribution and includes some of the most northerly-growing vascular land plants.

Papaver grows in disturbed soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
. Its seeds may lay dormant for years until the soil is disturbed. Then they bloom in great numbers under cool growing conditions.

The large, showy terminal flowers grow on long, hairy stalks, to a height of even 1m or more as in the Oriental Poppy
Oriental poppy

The Oriental poppy is a Perennial plant poppy of the genus Papaver.Aside from its natural brilliant orange-scarlet, since the later 19th century selective breeding for gardens has created a range of colors from clean white with eggplant-black blotches , through clear true pinks and salmon pinks to a deep maroon....
 (Papaver orientale). Their color vary from the deepest crimson, lilac, or white, or violet, to bright yellow or soft pink. The tissue-paper-like flowers may be single, double or semi-double. The size of these flowers can be amazing, as the Iceland Poppy
Iceland poppy

The Iceland Poppy is a boreal flowering plant. Native to subpolar regions of northern Europe and North America, Iceland poppy are hardy but short-lived Perennial plant,grown as Biennial plant, that yield large, papery, bowl-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers supported by hairy, 1-foot, curved stems among feathery blue-green foliage 1-6 inches...
 (Papaver nudicaule) grows to 15-20 cm across.

The flower buds are nodding or bent downwards, turning upwards as they are opening. There are two layers. The outer layer of two sepal
Sepal

A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Sepals in a "typical" flower are green and lie under the more conspicuous petals. As a collective unit the sepals are called the Wiktionary:calyx, and the collection of petals is called the Wiktionary:corolla....
s drops off as the bud opens. The inner layer consists of 4 (but sometimes 5 or 6) petal
Petal

A petal is one member or part of the Corolla of a flower. The corolla is the name for all of the petals of a flower; the inner perianth whorl, term used when this is not the same in appearance as the outermost whorl and is used to attract pollinators based on its advertising coloration....
s. There are many stamen
Stamen

The stamen is the male organ of a flower. Each stamen generally has a stalk called the filament , and, on top of the filament, an anther , and pollen sacs, called sporangium....
s in several whorls around a single pistil.

The ovary
Ovary (plants)

In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the carpel which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals....
 later develops in a poricidal capsular fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
, capped by the dried stigma. The numerous, tiny seeds escape with the slightest breeze through the pores of the capsule.

Poppies have a long history. They were already grown as ornamental plant
Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are typically grown in the flower garden or as house plants. Most commonly they are grown for the display of their flowers. Other common ornamental features include leaves, scent, fruit, Plant stem and bark....
s since 5,000 BC in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khuzestan Province of southwestern Iran....
. They were found in Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ian tombs. In Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 mythology
Mythology

The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
, the poppy was associated with Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
, goddess of fertility and agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
. People believed they would get a bountiful crop if poppies grew in their field, hence the name 'corn poppy'. In this case, the name 'corn' was derived from 'korn', the Greek word for 'grain'.

They are also sold as cut flowers in flower arrangements, especially the Iceland Poppy. They deserve a prominent place in any garden, border, or in meadow plantings. They are probably one of the most popular wildflower
Wildflower

A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets....
s.

In the course of history, poppies have always been attributed important medicinal properties. The alkaloid
Alkaloid

Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing base nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base....
 rhoeadine is derived from the flowers of the Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas). This is used as mild sedative
Sedative

A sedative is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement.At higher doses it may result in slurred speech, staggering gait , poor judgment, and slow, uncertain reflexes....
. The stems contain a latex
LaTeX

LaTeX is a document markup language and Word processor for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as ....
 or milky sap. This may cause skin irritation, and the milky sap present in the Opium Poppy
Opium poppy

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the type of poppy from which opium and many refined opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine, are extracted....
 (Papaver somniferum) contains several narcotic
Narcotic

The term narcotic is believed to have been coined by the Greek physician Galen to refer to agents that benumb or deaden, causing loss of feeling or paralysis....
 alkaloids including morphine
Morphine

Morphine is a highly potent opiate analgesic Medication, is the principal active agent in opium, and is considered to be the prototypical opioid....
 and codeine
Codeine

Codeine or methylmorphine is an opiate used for its analgesic, Cough medicine and Antidiarrhoeal properties. It is by far the most widely used opiate in the world and probably the most commonly used drug overall according to numerous reports over the years by organizations such as the World Health Organization and its League of Nations...
.

Selected species

Illustration Papaver Argemone0
  • Papaver acrochaetum
  • Papaver aculeatum : South African Poppy
  • Papaver alboroseum : Pale Poppy
  • Papaver alpinum
    Papaver alpinum

    Papaver alpinum, the Alpine poppy, is a Papaver found in the Alps.This species includes several sub-species, four of which are found in Austria....
     : Dwarf Poppy
  • Papaver amurense
  • Papaver apokrinomenon
  • Papaver apulum
  • Papaver arachnoideum
  • Papaver arenarium
  • Papaver argemone
    Papaver argemone

    Papaver argemone or Long Pricklyhead Poppy is a plant species of the genus Papaver. It is found in crops and sandy soils....
     : Long Pricklyhead Poppy
  • Papaver armeniacum
  • Papaver atlanticum
    Papaver atlanticum

    The Atlas poppy is a Perennial plant poppy of the genus Papaver. The plant forms basal rosettes of bluish leaves, with pale orange flowers on long wiry stems....
     : Atlas Poppy, Moroccan Poppy
  • Papaver aurantiacum
  • Papaver belangeri
  • Papaver berberica
  • Papaver bipinnatum
  • Papaver bracteatum
    Papaver bracteatum

    Papaver bracteatum, also known as the Iranian poppy, is a sturdy perennial poppy with large deep red flowers up to 8 inches across on stiff stalks up to 4 feet high with a prominent black spot near the base of the petals....
  • Papaver californicum
    Papaver californicum

    Papaver californicum is a species of poppy which is Endemism to California, where it is found in the coastal counties south of the San Francisco Bay Area....
     : Fire Poppy, Western Poppy
  • Papaver clavatum
  • Papaver commutatum
  • Papaver croceum : Ice Poppy
  • Papaver curviscapum
  • Papaver cylindricum
  • Papaver dahlianum : Svalbard Poppy
  • Papaver decaisnei
  • Papaver degenii : Pirin poppy
  • Papaver dubium : Long-headed Poppy, Blindeyes
  • Papaver fugax
  • Papaver giganteum
  • Papaver glaucum : Tulip Poppy
  • Papaver gorgoneum
  • Papaver gorodkovii : Arctic Poppy
  • Papaver gracile :
  • Papaver guerlekense
  • Papaver hybridum : Round Pricklyhead Poppy
  • Papaver kluanense : Alpine Poppy
  • Papaver lacerum
  • Papaver lapponicum : Lapland Poppy
  • Papaver lasiothrix
  • Papaver lateritium
  • Papaver macounii : Macoun's Poppy
  • Papaver mcconnellii : McConnell's Poppy
  • Papaver miyabeanum : Japanese Poppy
  • Papaver nudicaule : Iceland Poppy, Icelandic Poppy
  • Papaver orientale
    Oriental poppy

    The Oriental poppy is a Perennial plant poppy of the genus Papaver.Aside from its natural brilliant orange-scarlet, since the later 19th century selective breeding for gardens has created a range of colors from clean white with eggplant-black blotches , through clear true pinks and salmon pinks to a deep maroon....
     : Oriental Poppy
  • Papaver paucifoliatum
  • Papaver persicum
  • Papaver pilosum :
  • Papaver polychaetum
  • Papaver postii
  • Papaver pseudo-orientale : Oriental Poppy
  • Papaver purpureamarginatum
  • Papaver pygmaeum : Pigmy Poppy
  • Papaver radicatum
    Papaver radicatum

    Papaver radicatum or Rooted Poppy is a plant species of the genus Papaver....
     : Rooted Poppy
  • Papaver rhoeas : Common Poppy, Corn Poppy
    Corn poppy

    Papaver rhoeas is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It has a variety of common names, including the Corn Poppy, Field Poppy, Flanders Poppy, or Red Poppy, one of the many species and genera named poppy....
    , Annual Poppy, Flanders Poppy, Shirley Poppy
    Shirley Poppy

    Shirley Poppy is the name given to an ornamental cultivar group derived from the European wild field poppy ....
    .
  • Papaver rhopalothece
  • Papaver rupifragum : Spanish Poppy
  • Papaver sendtneri : White Alpine Poppy
  • Papaver somniferum : Opium Poppy
    Opium poppy

    The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the type of poppy from which opium and many refined opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine, are extracted....
  • Papaver spicatum
  • Papaver strictum
  • Papaver stylatum
  • Papaver syriacum
  • Papaver triniifolium
  • Papaver umbonatum :
  • Papaver walpolei : Walpole's Poppy


External links

Papaver Orientale3