Key to Papaver

View taxon page for Papaver

(For a list of species in Papaver, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Style present; stigma head-like, 

lobes 

1. A major expansion or bulge, such as on the margin of a leaf, sepal, or petal, or on the surface of an ovary. 2. The free tips of otherwise fused structures, such as sepals or petals; larger than teeth.

4–11 ..... P. heterophyllum

1' Style 0; stigma disk-like, lobes 4–20

2. Cauline 

leaf 

Organ arising from a stem, generally composed of a stalk (petiole) and a flat, expanded, green, photosynthetic area (blade); distinguished from a leaflet by the presence in its axil of a bud, branch, thorn, or flower; sometimes with lateral, basal appendages (stipules); either simple (toothed, lobed, or dissected but not divided into leaflets) or compound (divided into leaflets).

base clasping; fruit 3–5 cm, round ..... [P. somniferum]

2' Cauline leaf base not clasping; fruit 1–2 cm, narrowly obovate to round

3. Peduncle hairs 

appressed 

Parallel or nearly parallel to and often in contact with surface of origin; used to describe the disposition of hairs, leaves, pedicels, etc.

; leaf segments 

linear 

Elongate, with nearly parallel sides; narrower than elliptic or oblong.

to 

lanceolate 

Narrowly elongate, widest in the basal half, often tapered to an acute tip.

; fruit bristly

4. Fruit 

oblong 

Longer than wide, with nearly parallel sides; wider than linear.

to club-shaped, hairs sparse, soft ..... [P. argemone]

4' Fruit obovate to round, hairs dense, stiff ..... P. hybridum

3' Peduncle hairs 0 or 

spreading 

Oriented more or less perpendicularly to the axis of attachment; often, more or less horizontal.

; leaf segments oblong to lanceolate; fruit glabrous

5. Petals 10–20 mm; 

peduncle 

Stalk of an individual flower borne singly, not in an inflorescence, or of an entire inflorescence, or the corresponding structure in fruit; the stalk subtending an involucre (e.g., in Asteraceae, Polygonaceae).

glabrous or soft-hairy; fruit narrowly obovate; native, after fire or disturbance ..... P. californicum

5' Petals 20–40 mm; peduncle bristly; fruit widely obovate to round; alien, from cultivation ..... P. rhoeas

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