Papaveraceae

▪ plant family

      poppy family of the order Papaverales, with 44 genera and 760 species; most of these are herbaceous plants, but the family includes some woody shrubs and a genus of small tropical trees. The family is outstanding for its many garden ornamentals and pharmaceutically important plants. Most species are found in the Northern Hemisphere. (See also poppy.)

      All species in the family have bisexual, regular, dish-shaped flowers with one superior pistil (female structure) and many stamens (male parts). The buds and flowers are usually large and often nodding. They have 2 or 3 many-seeded separate sepals and 4 to 12 or more separate, often crinkled petals. The fruit is a spherical or linear capsule. In Papaver the seeds are dispersed from holes at the top of the capsule when the plant is shaken by the wind. In some genera the plants are spiny. The leaves are usually deeply cut or divided into leaflets, and the sap is coloured.

       opium, from which morphine, heroin, and codeine are derived, is from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), which is native to Turkey. P. somniferum is also the source of edible poppy seeds. Numerous other members of the family are valuable ornamental plants, including about 50 species of the genus Papaver (poppy). Other genera of the Papaveraceae distinguished for their ornamental species include: Meconopsis; Eschscholzia (California poppy); Hunnemannia (golden cup); Dendromecon (tree poppy); Stylophorum; Chelidonium (celandine); Sanguinaria (bloodroot); Platystemon (creamcups); Romneya coulteri (matilija poppy); Macleaya (plumed poppy); Stylomecon (wind poppy); Bocconia; and Eomecon (snow poppy). The genera Argemone (prickly poppy), Glaucium (horned poppy), and Papaver contain weedy species.

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