The opium poppy is papaver somniferum - it's also the ornamental poppy gardeners grow & the poppy grown for industrial use (poppy seed oil etc) - same beast, only becomes an opium poppy when you score the seed head I suppose. Comes in a variety of colours from white to pink to red to purple.
The poppies you get growing wild in hedgerows are more likely to be Papaver Rhoeus, the corn or field poppy, but that contains morphine & other opiates, so it could be considered an opium poppy too.
Boojum Reviewed by Boojum on . Poppy When I first moved into my rented house about 9 months ago these plants were all over the place. I finally realized why they seemed familiar to me. I checked it out at few different sites, and I believe they were opium poppies. They died their natural death after a while and I never experimented with them, but here are the pics I took at the time. Any feedback from anyone in the know is appreciated. Stam Rating: 5