Long Headed Poppy

About the weed

It is an upright, annual 30 - 60cm tall. The stems are hairy at the base with the hairs parallel to the stem. The leaves at the base form a rosette of divided segments. The broken stem bleeds a white sap. The large flowers have four red petals without blotches. The seedhead is long.

Key features

Fruit: The seedhead is long and smooth.

Biology

Long-headed poppy occurs as a cereal weed, though it is less frequent on arable land than common poppy. The plants reproduce entirely by seed; autumn-germinating plants can overwinter. The small green seed heads can block combine sieves at harvest and the seeds can contaminate oilseed rape seed samples.

Symptoms & Diagnosis

Life cycle

Seed longevity: >5 years

Seed weight: 0.1 mg

Seeds/flower: 2000

Seeds/plant: 18 000

Treatment

Management

It is readily controlled in cereal crops and uncropped land with herbicides. Herbicide resistance has not been reported in the UK.