Papaveraceae
(Poppy Family)
Habit
- mostly herbs with
milky or colored
sap
(alkaloids)
Leaves
- simple or much dissected,
estipulate
Flowers
- mostly solitary
Perianth
- in 2
whorls;
sepals often 2, falling as flower opens
Stamens
- with distinct
filaments
Carpels
- usually
fused,
superior, with 2-many
carpels and various
placentation
Fruit
- a
capsule
Diversity
- 25 genera / 200 species
Distribution
- most in Mediterranean climates (many
endemic to western North America);
Economics
- cultivated ornamentals;
opium poppy is source of narcotics, codine, morphine,
heroin. The raw exudate is called opium.
Notes
-
Images
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