Flora-Fauna

Papaver syriacum Boiss. & C.I.Blanche

First published in Diagnoses Plantarum Orientalium, ser. 2, 6: 8 (1859)

• Life-form & habit: Annual poppy with slender, slightly hairy stems; leaves lobed or dentate, softly pubescent and light green.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Petals red, typically with a distinct basal dark spot. Flowers slightly smaller and more delicate than those of P. rhoeas. Stamens numerous; anthers oblong.

• Fruit: Capsule with a short mucro, forming a small umbo on the disc. Stigmatic rays spreading or slightly reflexed; disc flat to faintly convex.

• Phenology: Spring.

• Habitat & elevation: Dry fields, stony slopes, interior steppes, and montane foothill regions.

• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from the Beqaa corridor and interior slopes of Mount Lebanon (Jabal Kneissé, Dahr el-Baïdar, Chtaura, Zahlé, Barouk).

• Syrian distribution: Common in inland and steppe regions, including the Damascus basin, Qalamoun foothills, Homs–Hama plateau, and Aleppo steppe margins.

• Native range: Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Turkey.

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note:
– Modern consensus (POWO, Euro+Med) treats Papaver syriacum as a synonym of Papaver umbonatum Boiss. (1849), which has priority.
– The only consistent morphological difference is the presence or absence of the mucro (the “nipple” of umbonatum), which Mouterde used to justify keeping them separate.
– Modern authors interpret this character as intraspecific variation, not warranting species separation.