Are There Different Poppy Plants

There many different species of the poppy plant, there are approximately 200 different poppy plants in existence and these range in color from deep hues to pastels. This large amount of poppy plants are a part of the 26 genera that are known in the botanical world as being in the class Dicotyledoneae, this means they are in the two seeds plant class.

Each of these plants are all from the botanical family Papaveracea, some of the plants found in this family are grown widely in many countries for their beauty and then there are the poppy plants that contain opium, which are grown for other purposes than being in beautiful flower in the garden. This is because, certain members of the Papaveraceae family contain necrotic alkaloids in their sap commonly known as opium that is used in making some medications and for illegal drug use.

Out of the 200 species of poppies that it can be found worldwide their approximately 13 species of the poppy grown in the Southern United States by avid gardeners. The poppy plants are a native of Asia Minor and have a long history of use for both beauty and its other properties that some of the species produce naturally. Since some of the properties found in the poppy species, not all poppy plants are legal in every country; poppies that contain opium naturally have been outlawed in some countries. The governments of each country are the deciding factor to regulate which species of poppies are legal in their country.