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Corn Poppy

Papaver rhoeas

Corn Poppy is a hardy, self-seeding annual that bears single, red flowers in early summer.

AI generated image from a Monticello photograph

Jefferson observed the "lesser" or "dwarf" poppy at Shadwell in 1767, and recorded the planting of "Papaver Rhoeas flor. plen. double poppy" in a Monticello oval flower bed in 1807. The Shadwell poppies were probably similar to the single, red-flowering forms shown here. This a horticultural variety of the common European field poppy, which immortalized in Flanders during World War I.