Opium Poppy - Papaver somniferum
Description
Medium to tall, erect plant. Leaves greyish green, oblong, but lobed and undulate, the upper clasping the stem. Flowers large, 8 to 18 cm purple, pale lilac or red, often with a deep blotch at the base of each petal, anthers pale yellow. Capsule rounded.
Identification difficulty

Habitat
Cultivated and waste land, waysides.
When to see it
June to August.
Life History
Annual.
UK Status
Found fairly frequently throughout Britain.
VC55 Status
Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 83 of the 617 tetrads.
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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MAP KEY:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015