Poppy belongs to the family Papaveraceae, genu Papaver and species Papaver somniferum. Other scientific name is Papaver bracteatum. Common name are Bengali: Pasto; Hindi: Aphim, Khash-khash; Kannada: Afim, Biligasgase, Gasagase, Kasakase; Malayalam: afium, avin, karappu, kasakasa; Marathi: afu, aphu, khuskhus, posta; Sanskrit: Aaphuka, Ahifenam, Ahiphena, Afenam; Tamil: abini, gashagasha, kasakasa, postaka; Telugu: abhini, gasagasala, gasagasala-chettu; Urdu: Aphim, Khashkhash; Nepali: Aphim. The flower color is Orange, Pink, Purple, Red. Commercial part used is capsules and flowers. With so many varieties, choosing which to plant can be exhausting. Here are a few we like, and if you can’t decide, many vendors sell a seed mix: 1. Common poppy, also called Flanders, American Legion, or Red corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas). This is the famous red flower worn for remembrance in Canada, the United States, the UK, and other countries. Stunning in extensive plantings, they are not well-suited to breezy locations. 2. ‘Oriental Scarlet’ is a perennial poppy (P. orientale) with unique, six-inch diameter orange blooms on strong stems. The foliage will die back in summer, so interplant with other flowers to avoid a bare spot in your garden. Check out this page from NC State Extension for more information about Oriental poppies. 3. ‘Hungarian breadseed’ is an annual with stunning lavender and purple flowers and dark blue or black seeds for baking. 4. Shirley poppies are direct descendants of the Flanders or common poppy but were bred to provide a mix of pinks, reds, and even an occasional white. Economical to plant en masse, they are annual and self-seeding. One of the oldest plants known to humans is the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.). It's where opium and opium alkaloids come. By 4000 BC, Sumerians had discovered its therapeutic, nutritional, and narcotic properties, and by 1400-350 BC, Greeks had discovered it. Mutagenesis significantly suppresses enzyme function, weakening or blocking secondary metabolite production. Opium and opium-alkaloids, particularly morphine, are addictive opioids in the opium poppy, leading to serious global drug misuse. In the straw mutant LL-34, the genetic conversion of latex 'opium poppy' into latex less seed poppy' resulted in opium less and very low alkaloids variety Sujata. Medicinal and aromatic crops were recently introduced to the mutant breeding program, maybe in the 1980s in India. Nonetheless, there have been notable achievements, some of which may be one-of-a-kind. Coordinated efforts were made for genetic tailoring (restructuring) of the plant frame, enhanced seed productivity in Papaver somniferum L., and weak or absent latex biosynthesis (Opium poppy). Several qualitative macro alterations, such as an opium-free oil-seed variety of opium poppy Sujata have been developed for commercial use. The abundant quantitative variation was also created by reshuffling the polygenic background in both seed and vegetatively propagated medicinal and aromatic crops (MACs), and then superior varieties were evolved and released after a rigorous screening in the field evaluation or the pipeline for release using the mutation breeding approach. The opium poppy varieties Sujata and Vivek are notable.
