Indigenous Orange Poppies For Small Gardens

PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN.

- Graham Duncan

The genus Papaver is a member of the poppy family (Papaveraceae) and is a horticulturally and economically important group of about 100 species of annuals, biennials, and perennials, almost entirely from the northern hemisphere. It includes popular garden plants such as the common poppy (P. rhoeas), Iceland poppy (P. nudicaule) and oriental poppy (P. Orientale). Another member, the opium poppy (P. somniferum), also known as the Breadseed poppy, is widely grown as an agricultural crop for its seeds for human consumption (poppy seeds). ‘Papaver’ is derived from the Latin word ‘pappa’, meaning ‘milk’, because of the milky latex in its stems and leaves. Commonly known as the bristle poppy, orange poppy, doringpapawer or wildepapawer, Papaver aculeatum is the only poppy endemic to southern Africa and to the southern hemisphere, and was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg in 1800. It is found in all provinces of South Africa, as well as in Eswatini (Swaziland), Lesotho and Namibia, and is widespread and common in the colder, inlan