Corn poppy

Papaver rhoeas

Recognise!

The Corn poppy can be distinguished from the other similar poppy species by its dark red petals with black spots at the bottom and its bluish black stamens. Spreading hairs cover the whole length of its stalk. The fruit capsule however is hairless and shows about 10 brown stigma-stripes. The capsule is wide, egg-shaped and less than 2x as long as large.

Did you know?

The seeds of the Corn poppy (or field poppy) are dispersed through small holes below the cover of the capsule as with a salt cellar. The corn poppy has spread throughout the world with agriculture. In popular medicine it is used against coughs and as a light sedative and painkiller. The white latex contains several weakly poisonous alkaloids; however there is no morphine as in the opium poppy.

Corn poppy
John van Breda