Appearance
Oriental poppies grow a mound of leaves that are hairy and finely dissected in spring. They gather energy and bloom in mid-summer. After flowering the foliage dies away entirely, a property that allows their survival in the summer drought of Central Asia. Gardeners can place late-developing plants nearby to fill the developing gap.
Naming
Oriental poppies are closely related to the great scarlet poppy "Papaver bracteatum", which can be grown for the commercial extraction of thebaine, a common starting material for the production of semisynthetic medicinal opioids.References:
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