Be careful With This Orange Poppy

Poppy

Ask the Expert: any idea what this flower is? Is it child safe? I found this at a farm pond in ohio. I have never seen one like it and can’t find it in any of flower identification. It was tough to get a good picture, but the pedals are wrinkled looking, and the plant is prickly and has pods on long stems. Not sure if the attachment worked please let me know. Michael

Plant Expert:

From the picture it is a little difficult to tell, but I believe you have some kind of poppy (Papaver). The blooms seems to be what they call double which are a little different from what we normally see in a poppy.  It could be a Papaver somniferum, Papaver lateritium ‘Fireball’ or a Papaver rupifragium.   All poppies can be toxic if ingested.  However, only the Papaver somniferum contains opium.  This plant can be poisonious for some animals as well.

If you really need a definitive identification, take a bloom, a seed pod and a leaf to your local extenstion service.  They should be able to identify it.