A poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, borne one per stem, belonging to the poppy family. These can be enjoyed in the wild, but are also grown for ornament.

There are white, pink, orange, red and blue poppies; some have a dark centre. The centre has a whorl of stamens. Poppies have 4–6 petals.

Poppies may be found in the genera:

Meconopsis (Himalayan poppy, Welsh poppy and relatives)
Papaver (Iceland poppy, Oriental poppy, Opium poppy, corn poppy and about 120 other species)
Romneya (Matilija poppy and relatives)
Eschscholzia (California poppy and relatives)


The poppy of wartime remembrance is the red corn poppy, Papaver rhoeas. This poppy is a common weed in Europe and is found in many locations, including Flanders Field. Artificial, paper versions of this poppy are in many countries worn to commemorate those killed in World War I. In Canada, they are worn in remembrance of dead soldiers during the weeks preceeding the Canada's "Remembrance Day," November 11th.

The pollen of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, is dark blue. The pollen of the field poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is dark blue to grey. Bees will use poppies as a pollen source.

The golden poppy, Eschscholtzia californica, is the state flower of California.

The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is grown for opium, opiates or seeds to be used in cooking and baking, eg. Hungarian Poppy seed rolls.

False positive drug tests

Eating food (e.g. muffins) that contains poppy seeds can result in a false positive for opiates in a drug test. Although the drug opium is produced from the unripe fruits ("seed pods") rather than the seeds, all parts of the plant can contain the opium alkaloids.

This was confirmed by the presenters of the television programme MythBusters. One participant who ate an entire loaf of poppyseed cake tested positive for opiates just half an hour later. A second participant who ate three poppy seed bagels, first tested positive two hours after eating. Both tested positive for the remainder of the day, but were clean 18 hours later in the morning.

The sale of poppy seeds is banned in Singapore due to the alleged morphine content.