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Ahifen / Khaskhas (Krishna)

Common Names


Common Names To be Updated Soon

About    Taxonomy


Click to access the GRIN database record about the specific taxonomical hierarchy (Family, Genus etc.).

CLASSIFICATION


TAXON 


Papaver somniferum L.

FAMILY 


Papaveraceae Juss.

ALTERNATE FAMILY


nom. cons.

TRIBE


Papaveroideae

GENUS 


Papaver L.

SPECIES


somniferum L. Sp. pl. 1:508. 1753


Plant Description


A robust annual herb, (20-) 30-100 (-120) cm tall, apparently glabrous, glaucous, rarely branched. Leaves ovate-oblong, cordate-amplexicaul except the lowest which usually narrows into a short stalk, undulate, serrate, crenate or dentate, often with larger teeth alternating with smaller ones, (sometimes pinnatipartite or pinnatifid), usually 5-15 cm long. Peduncle (5-) 10-20 (-25) cm long, glabrous or sparsely bristly. Flower bud ovoid-oblong, (10-) 15-25 (-30) mm long. Flowers large, showy, usually 5-10 cm in diam., white, pinkish or reddish, rarely pale violet, with or without a basal dark blotch. Sepals glabrous, caducous, as large as the bud. Petals about twice as long as the sepals, obovate-orbicular, with margin usually wavy or variously cut, caducous. Stamens as long as the ovary with, usually yellowish filaments; anthers 2-4 mm long, oblong-linear. Capsule subglabrous smooth with a rounded base often abruptly ending into a very short stipe (1-2 mm long); stigmatic disk somewhat shorter than the capsule breadth, with deeply cut marginal lobes and usually 8-12 (-18) stigma rays, not quite reaching the edges of the lobes; seeds small, white, dark-grey to black.

Flowering Period: April-June.

 

*Description source:  Efloras.org

STUDIES & RESEARCH