Fam: Papaveraceae Juss.
English Name: Poppy family
Description:
The Papaveraceae /pəpeɪvəˈreɪsiː/, informally known as the poppy family, are an economically important family of 30 genera and approximately 600 species of flowering plants in the order Ranunculales. The family is cosmopolitan, occurring in temperate and subtropical climates, but almost unknown in the tropics. Most are herbaceous plants, but a few are shrubs and small trees.
The plants may be annual, biennial, or perennial. Usually herbaceous, a few species form shrubs or evergreen trees. They are lactiferous, producing latex, which may be milky or watery, coloured or plain. All parts contain a well-developed duct system (these ducts are called "laticifers"), producing a milky latex, a watery white, yellow or red juice.
Corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) - flower
The simple leaves are alternate or sometimes whorled. They have petioles and are not enclosed by a sheath. The leaves are usually lobed or pinnatifid (i.e. consisting of several not entirely separate leaflets), or much-divided. There are no stipules.
The plants are hermaphroditic and are pollinated mostly by insects (even as flower nectaries are lacking; entomophilous), a few by the wind (anemophilous). There is a distinct calyx and corolla, except in Macleaya where the corolla is lacking. The flowers are medium-sized or large and they look spectacular. The terminal flowers solitary in most species. In others the terminal inflorescence is cymose or racemose. The flowers are odourless and regular.
California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
There are many stamens, mostly 16 to 60, arranged in two separate whorls, the outer one with stamens alternate with the petals, the inner one opposite. The gynoecium consists of a compound pistil with 2 to 100 carpels. The ovary is superior and 1-locular. The ovary is without a footstalk (sessile) or on a short stem (stipitate).
The non-fleshy fruit is usually a capsule, breaking open at maturity to release the seeds through pores (poricidal), or through the partitions between the cells (septicidal), or by means of valves (valvular). The numerous seeds are small. Their nutritive tissue (endosperm) is oily and farinose. The fruit of Platystemon is a schizocarp.
Almost all of these plants contain alkaloids. Many are poisonous. The Mexican Prickly Poppy is poisonous if taken internally and may cause edema and glaucoma. Even if an animal, such as a goat, should persist in grazing on this plant, not only will the animal suffer but so will those who drink its milk, because the poisons are passed along in the milk.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Papaveraceae, 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.
From Encyclopedia Britanica
References:
„Флора на НР България”, том IV, БАН, София, (1970), From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britanica
GENERA:
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