Poppies are a family of dicotyledonous plants from the Ranunculaceae order, which gave humanity the infamous opium poppy and at the same time many decorative garden flowers. The article provides a general botanical description of plants.
Characteristic of the Poppy family
The family is very diverse. Includes about 700 species, united in 45 genera. These are mainly herbs, less often shrubs and shrubs, with the exception of small trees with strongly dissected or whole leaves without stipules. The geography of distribution is impressive, but the bulk of the representatives grows in the northern and temperate latitudes. The largest number of species (more than 300) belongs to the genus Corydalis.
Poppy family: general characteristics of a flower
For representatives of the Poppy family, bisexual flowers are characteristic, located singly or collected in inflorescences of various types, to some extent cyclic, zygomorphic or regular. They have a double perianth, a pair of early falling sepals and usually 4 petals, rarely more. Poppies are characterized by the presencemany stamens, stigma or columns of a sessile type, upper ovary. The fruit is a pod or capsule, contains small seeds with endosperm and embryo, has lactic, but still they are not present in all species. Without exception, all plants contain alkaloids.
The poppy family in terms of variety of flowers is in many ways reminiscent of Ranunculaceae. Both there and there are actinomorphic and zygomorphic forms, absolutely different from each other.
Subfamilies
The poppy family is divided into two subfamilies. The main criterion for the classification of genera is the structure of the flower. So, for example, celandine, poppy have the correct form and belong to the subfamily Proper poppy, and representatives with zygomorphic - to the Dymyankovs. Let's dwell on the second in more detail. The largest genus of Dymyankovs - Corydalis - includes about 300 species. All of them grow in the temperate climate of Eurasia and North America. Many of them are geophytes with tubers (mainly of root origin) and ephemeroids. In particular, these include the common Corydalis familiar to everyone. A plant with large clusters of purple-pink flowers, which are especially loved by bumblebees. They are sharply zygomorphic in shape. The reason for this is the petal of the outer circle, elongated into a spur. But if we compare the diagrams of corydalis and aconite, then we can notice completely different types of zygomorphy - in the first it is transverse. Only flowers of the poppy family have similar features.
Controversial taxonomy
To startIt should be noted that two types of taxonomy of flowering plants are now the most popular: the APG II system (published in 2003) and the Cronquist classification developed by an American botanist. The second is used more widely both in its original form and with modern adaptations. According to the APG II system, plants of the poppy family belong to the order Ranunculaceae. These data are often found on the Internet resources. However, according to the traditional classification, they have their own order - Poppies.
Botanists admit that the systematic position of the family is indeed ambiguous. It is obvious that the Poppies have common ancestors with the Ranunculaceae (in the photo below the large Buttercup). In this regard, some genera from America are very interesting. They have the characteristics of the Ranunculaceae flower and at the same time have lactic, which is not characteristic of them and is a trait that the poppy family has.
Its representatives are quite well known, mainly in horticultural culture. However, the most famous, of course, is the opium poppy. To be fair, it should be added that he is notorious.
Opium poppy
Currently, it is only common in culture. The milky juice extracted, as a rule, from immature boxes is rich in alkaloids, which are valued from a medical point of view: narcotine, morphine, codeine, etc. Opium smoking has long been common in Asian countries, especially in China, where it was massive. As a result, the plant has become not only useful, but also dangerous. The cultivation of poppy (opium and other species containing narcotic compounds) has been banned in Russia since 2004 as part of the fight against drug addiction.
Other members of the family
While talking about the poppy family, one cannot fail to mention that it includes a lot of species that are valuable medicinal and ornamental plants.
- Rod Celandine. At the moment, it includes only two types: Asian and large. Both plants have pronounced medicinal properties known to mankind since time immemorial. The name "warthog" is popular among the people because of the ability of the juice to treat skin diseases and remove warts.
- Genus Corydalis. Includes many species, mostly perennials. A characteristic feature is the tuberous thickening of the root, large racemose inflorescences. Representatives of the genus are not only valuable medicinal plants, but also honey plants. Decorative forms and varieties have been developed.
- The genus Eschscholzia is a small genus of plants from North America, including about 10 species. Its representatives are best known as ornamental plants, cultivated as annuals.
- Rod of Argemon. The medicinal properties of plants were known to the Aztecs. Now the genus is valued for its high decorativeness and is actively used in garden and indoor floriculture.
- The genus Sanguinaria includes only one species. The natural habitat of the plant is forests in eastern North America. All parts of it contain very toxic alkaloids. SanguinariaCanadian is used in pharmaceuticals and traditional medicine.
