Family |
Papaveraceae
Papaver rhoeas
L.
Papaver rhoeas L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 507 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 64, Pl. XXV, 3–5; 1970)
Description
Life-form & habit: Green, bristly annual, rarely becoming almost hairless, with one or several erect, branched stems, 20–90 cm tall, usually bearing spreading bristles.
Leaves: Very variable, rarely nearly entire, usually pinnately lobed or divided, sometimes twice divided.
Inflorescence & flowers: Solitary flowers on long, erect, bristly stalks; buds nodding, oval-oblong and blunt. Sepals fall as the flower opens. Petals bright red, often with a purple-black basal blotch, 2–3 cm long and 2–4 cm wide. Stamens numerous, with slender purple or almost black filaments and oblong brown or purple anthers.
Fruit: Somewhat glaucous capsule, nearly spherical to obovate-oblong; the flat disc exceeds the capsule’s width and has rounded, overlapping lobes. Stigmas 5–18, usually 10.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: March–June.
Habitat & elevation: Fields, waste ground and pastures.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: North of Tyre, Saida, Beirut and its surroundings, Chekka, Tripoli, Beddaoui, Mtein, Qartaba, Ehden and Baalbeck.
Syrian distribution: Qalaat Marqab, Latakia, Damascus, Soueida and Palmyra.
Recorded locations: Bqaatouta.
Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Central European Russia, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Netherlands, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, West Himalaya.
Introduced into: Alabama, Alaska, Altay, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Assam, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bolivia, California, Cape Provinces, Chile Central, Chile South, Colorado, Connecticut, Cuba, Denmark, District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Finland, Great Britain, Haiti, Honduras, Idaho, Illinois, India, Iowa, Ireland, Kentucky, Korea, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nepal, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, Norway, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., Sakhalin, Saskatchewan, South Australia, Sweden, Taiwan, Tasmania, Texas, Uruguay, Utah, Vermont, Victoria, Vietnam, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Western Australia, Wisconsin.