The Difference Between Male & Female Poppies

Male Flower Part

• The stamen is the male part of a flower. A stamen consists of a stalk called a filament that has an anther at the tip. The anther contains the male sperm called pollen. Poppy flowers contain 16 to 60 stamens in two whorls around the female flower part in the center of the blossom.

Female Flower Part

• The female part of a poppy flower, surrounded by male stamens, is called the pistil or the gynoecium. A poppy pistil contains two to 100 carpals. A carpal contains an ovary, a style and a stigma. The ovary or plant egg is at the bottom or base of a flower. Sitting directly on the ovary of a poppy flower, the style bears the sticky, rough stigma that receives the pollen from the male stamen.

Poppy Flower Cycle

• Poppy flowers have four to six petals. They have a distinct calyx, which is the part of the flower that has green sepals, or modified leaves that surround and protect the bud. The petals are crumpled when they in the bud. They open to form a cup or bowl with a whorl of male stamens surrounding the female pistil in the center. As the petals open, the sepals are no longer needed. They split from the bottom of the flower and drop off. The petals eventually lie flat before they too fall away.

Poppy Flower Kinds

• The Flanders poppy, or Papaver rhoeas, and Iceland poppies, or Paper nudicaule, are grown for their attractive flowers. At 6 to 8 inches in diameter, flowers of the Iceland poppies are the largest. The seeds of the opium poppy, or Papaver somniferum, are sprinkled onto baked goods and made into oil. Papaver somniferum has white flowers with red interior. The California poppy, or Eschascholzia California, not a true poppy, bears orange, red, gold or violet flowers.