Poppy

A poppy is a annual, biennial, or perennial plant of the Family Papaveraceae, typically with showy flowers borne one per stem, native mainly to the Northern hemisphere and often grown for ornament, opium or food. 15-100 cm high, it yields a milky sap (latex) and bears large lobed or divided leaves and white, pink, orange, or red flowers, sometimes with a dark centre, with 4-6 petals around a whorl of stamens. The fruit is a capsule with pores through which the seeds are dispersed.

Genera in this family include:

• Meconopsis (Himalayan poppy, Welsh poppy, and relatives)
• Papaver (Iceland poppy, Oriental poppy, Opium poppy, corn poppy and about 120 other species)
• Romneya (Matilija poppy and relatives)
• Eschscholzia ( California poppy and relatives)

As poppies bloomed in much of the western front in World War I, poppies are a symbol of miltary veterans, especially of that war. See also: Remembrance Day, In Flanders Fields