Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Papaver atlanticum

Other names

Atlantic Poppy, Moroccan Poppy, Spanish Poppy

Family

Papaveraceae

Flowering season

May to August

English distribution

It is found mainly in East Anglia, the Southeast, the South

and the near Southwest. It is thinly scattered elsewhere.

See the BSBI distribution map for Atlas Poppy

Habitat

It is a neophyte, which was first grown in English gardens

in the late 1880s and first noted in the wild in the

late 1920s.

It is now a well naturalised garden escape and  grows on

waste ground, by waysides and on walls.

Description

Atlas Poppy is a perennial herb, growing up to 40cm.

It has orange flowers up to 5cm across.

The petals may be in 2 or more layers.

The capsule is long.

The leaves are pinnately lobed.

The stem is wiry and hairy and exudes a white juice

when damaged.