PAPAVERACEAE

poppy family of the order Papaverales, with about 200 species; most of these are herbaceous plants, but the family includes some woody, small trees and shrubs. 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, cup-shaped flowers with one superior pistil (female structure) and many stamens (male parts). They have 2 or 3 conspicuous, separate sepals and 4 to 12 or more separate petals. The fruit is a capsule, 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, Dendromecon (bush poppy), Stylophorum, Chelidonium (celandine), Sanguinaria (bloodroot), Platystemon (creamcups), Romneya, Macleaya, Stylomecon, Bocconia, and Eomecon. The genera Argemone (prickly poppy), Glaucium (horned poppy), and Papaver contain weedy species.