Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Papaver somniferum
Common name
Opium poppy, Common poppy
Family
Papaveraceae
Where found
Grassy areas, roadsides, disturbed sites, dunes, beaches and stream banks. Western Slopes. ACT. Coast and ranges north of Berry. Widespread elsewhere but not common.
Notes
Introduced annual herb to 1.5 m tall. Stems hairless or bristly, often glaucous. Leaves basal and alternating up the stems, to 30 cm long, glaucous to sparsely bristly, margins often lobed, usually toothed, bases often cordate, upper leaves stem-clasping. Flowers with 4 white, pink, mauve, red, or purple petals, often with a purple spot at the base, each 40-80 mm long. Flowers Oct.–Apr.
subsp. somniferum: Stems and leaves with no or few bristly hairs. Seed cases round, frequently to 5 cm in diameter, and do not release their seed.
subsp. setigerum: Stems and leaves covered in bristly hairs. Seed cases cylindrical to almost round, usually less than 2 cm in diameter, and release the seed by pores.
Subspecies are not recognised in the ACT and Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Papaver~somniferum (accessed 29 January, 2021)
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