Opium Poppy

Opium Poppy - Papaver somniferum

Description

Medium to tall, erect plant. Leaves greyish green, oblong, but lobed and undulate, the upper clasping the stem. Flowers large, 8 to 18 cm purple, pale lilac or red, often with a deep blotch at the base of each petal, anthers pale yellow. Capsule rounded.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Cultivated and waste land, waysides.

When to see it

June to August.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Found fairly frequently throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. The Flora of Leicestershire published in 1988 states that it occurred in 83 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

No additional images available for this species.

All NatureSpot records