Annual, (20-) 30-40 (-45) cm tall herb, erect, branched, stiffly hairy with spreading hairs except the appressedly hairy peduncle. Leaves 1-pinnatisect usually with distant linear-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute lobes; lower leaves stalked, 5-15 cm long, upper subsessile or sessile, becoming smaller above; lobes entire, acutely and distantly few toothed, 1-4 cm long, usually bristle-tipped. Peduncle 10-20 cm long. Flower bud 10-20 mm long, 6-10 mm broad, ovate-oblong with somewhat rounded apex, ± bristly hairy with 1-1.5(-2) mm long, somewhat broad based hairs. Flowers 3-6 cm in diam., purple or pink with or without a basal blotch. Petals 20-30 mm long, broadly obovate-orbicular. Stamens longer than the ovary; filaments purplish; anthers c. 1 mm long, broadly ellipsoid. Capsule oblong-ellipsoid or somewhat tubulose and narrowed below, more narrowed towards the base, 10-20 (-25) mm long, 6-10 mm broad, glabrous, glaucous, faintly or not ribbed, usually smooth; stigma rays 5-10, reaching almost the end of somewhat drooping, deeply dissected lobes of the disk, somewhat keeled; disk not quite as broad as the capsule; seeds very small, kidney shaped, dark brown, finely reticulated.

Fl.Per. April-July.

Type: Turkey: (Erzurum) Armenia, Circa Tortum ad Vias, 1853, Huet (G).

Distribution: Armenia & S.W. Asia, Turkey, Afghanistan, West Pakistan & N.W. Himalaya.

Distinguished from Papaver rhoeas L., with which it may be sometimes confused, by its elongated fruits, deeply lobed stigmatic disc with somewhat keeled rays reaching quite the end of the drooping lobes, and appressedly hairy peduncle. It also differs from Papaver dubium by its robust habit with different stigmatic lobes and smooth, somewhat ellipsoid, glaucous capsules.

Papaver piptostigma Bien. ex Fedde and Papaver tubuliferum Fedde, with somewhat tubu¬lose capsules, 10-15 mm and 20-25 mm long respectively, are nothing but variants of this species, and there seems to be no other coordinating character to support their separation even as infra specific taxa.

It has perhaps no narcotic value.