noun
Usage: usually capitalized I
1. : either of two nearly stemless perennial poppies that tend to grow in a firm close turf:
a. : a subarctic poppy ( Papaver nudicaule ) of both hemispheres that is hairy and somewhat glaucous with pinnately lobed or cleft petioled leaves and fragrant typically yellow and white flowers borne on slender wiry scapes
b. : a similar Old World alpine poppy ( Papaver alpinum ) with white and yellow or often pink or orange flowers and glabrous foliage
2. : any of various cultivated poppies that are prob. derived from one or the other of the wild Iceland poppies, are commonly grown as biennials or short-lived perennials, and have small or medium-sized single or double flowers chiefly of pastel color — compare shirley poppy