Roemeria

a genus of plants of the family Papaveraceae. The plants are branched, hairy annual herbs with yellow sap. The leaves are twice pinnately cut. The radical leaves are petio-late, and the upper leaves are sessile. The large and solitary flowers have four petals and many stamens. The fruit is a long cylindrical capsule.

There are six to eight species of Roemeria, distributed in the Mediterranean region, Western Asia, Middle Asia, and Central Asia. The USSR has two species, the violet horned poppy (R. hybrida) and R. refracta, which grow in the Crimea, the Caucasus, and Soviet Central Asia. The violet horned poppy has dark violet flowers, and R. refracta has bright red flowers. The plants grow on dry clayey slopes, in gardens and fields, and on fallow land. The genus includes poisonous and medicinal plants containing alkaloids. The principal alkaloid is roemerine, whose action is similar to that of curare.