Crops Poppy (Papaver somniferum)

Summary Information



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Young plants

The poppy is a herbaceous annual which may grow to a height of 1.5 m. The main root is conical, with few laterals. The vegetative portions are light green, often greyish or with a silvery sheen, the stems being cylindrical, slightly ridged, and frequently branched.

Well grown plants

The leaves, some of which may grow quite large, are often elliptical, with wavy or toothed margins and a prominent midrib; the basal leaves form a rosette, while the upper ones clasp the stem. Buds are produced singly at the outer ends of the stems and branches, and remain pointing downwards until the day before they open.

Flower

The flowers are 4-petalled and open upwards; they are usually white, with a dark lilac patch at the base of each petal, but may be coloured pink or blue.

Ripe heads

The capsules are rounded, with longitudinal ridges, and ripen from light green to tan; internally, each capsule is compartmented, and may contain up to 2000 seeds, which are coloured white, blue-grey, or brown. Poppies thrive best in open, sunny situations and on soils of medium texture.

Seeds

A fine tilth is required, into which seed is sown shallowly during early spring. An established plant density of 50-60 plants per square metre is probably ideal; a seedrate of 1-2 kg per ha may be used, but this may be bulked with killed seed in order to facilitate even emergence. Nitrogen requirement is 75 kg per ha in the seedbed, with another 40 kg per ha applied before flowering: phosphate availability should be good. Some herbicides have been shown to be suitable for use with the crop. When ripe, the capsules may be harvested using a combine harvester, if this is sealed against loss of the fine seeds. Seed yields are usually 1.2-1.8 t per ha, sometimes more, with similar quantities of capsule material, which should be separated as soon as possible after harvesting. Experiments were conducted in several Western European countries during the 1 950s and 1 960s in an attempt to commercialise the poppy as a dual-purpose crop, for the production of pharmaceuticals as well as seed, but these trials were not successful. The crop is grown on this basis in parts of Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary, where drug production is carefully controlled. Small quantities of poppy seed are now also being used medicinally, in pediatric nutrition, but little agronomic research is currently taking place.