Papaver hybridum L., Sp. Pl. 506. 1753; Hook. f. & Thomson in Pl. Brit. India 1: 117. 1872.

Annual, sparingly branched, hispid herbs, 19 - 40 cm high; hairs on branches and stems appressed and with bulbous bases, caducous with age. Radical leaves long petioled, 3 - 30 cm long; cauline leaves alternate, subsesslle to sessile, pinnatifid to Pinnatisect, 3 - 5.5 cm long; terminal segments linear-lanceolate, awned at apex. Flowers 2.5 - 4 cm across, scarlet with a blackish blotch at base; pedicels 8 - 13 cm long. Sepals 2, caducous, obtuse, sparingly hispid. Petals 4, overlapping and crumpled in bud, obovate, 1 - 1.3 cm long. Stamens numerous; filaments dilated upwards. Capsules subglobose, 8 - 13 mm long, bristly hispid; stigma convex; stigmatic rays 4 - 8, reaching the edge of disc.

Fl. & Fr. March - May.

Distrib. India: Naturalised weed in wheat fields and wastelands. Jammu & Kashmir (Poonch and Rajouri Districts).

Pakistan, Afghanistan, West Asia, N. Africa and Europe.