EPPO Global Database

• EPPO Code: PAPSO
• Preferred name: Papaver somniferum
• Authority: Linnaeus

Portugal to Italy (probably native). Widely cultivated for centuries in most of the Euromediterranean region as a medicinal plant (opium), for its seeds (as a flavouring), for its seed oil, and as an ornamental (in various colours), and correspondingly naturalized as a weed. Raw material for the illicit production of heroin, so that its production is regulated in some countries. Introduced in eastern Europe, Siberia, Russian Far East, Western Asia, Central Asia, Himalayas, India, China, Indochina, Ethiopia, Angola, North America (including Greenland), Central America, South America (northwest, southern cone), Australia

WSSA list of weeds in North America