OV3: Papaver rhoeas-Viola arvensis community: Papaveretum argemones (Libbert 1933) Kruseman & Vlieger 1939

Summary

Constant species

Anagallis arvensis, Medicago lupulina, Papaver rhoeas, Poa annua, Polygonum aviculare, Veronica persica, Viola arvensis.

Rare species

Veronica triphyllos.

Physiognomy

The Papaveretum argemones comprises annual weed vegetation in which the most striking feature is the abundance of various species of red poppy. Papaver rhoeas is the most frequent and usually the most abundant of these, its bright scarlet flowers appearing from mid-June and continuing intermittently until October, but also common, particularly in the south and east of Britain and beginning to flower earlier, is P. argemone. A third species, like P. argemone in its smaller and paler scarlet flowers, though more widespread, is P. dubium.

Other frequent contributors to the more or less open cover of this vegetation are Viola arvensis, Veronica persica, V. arvensis, Anagallis arvensis, Poa annua, Medicago lupulina, Polygonum aviculare, Bilderdykia convolvulus, Capsella bursa-pastoris and Trifolium repens. Elymus repens and Agrostis stolonifera are common, too, and can be locally abundant.

Occasional in the Papaveretum include Arenaria serpyllifolia (with some plants distinguished as ssp. leptoclados), Galium aparine, Myosotis arvensis, Chenopodium album, Matricaria perforata, Chamomilla suaveolens, Sonchus asper, S. oleraceus and Senecio vulgaris. The nationally rare Veronica triphyllos has also been recorded in this vegetation.

Habitat

The Papaveretum is characteristic of disturbed, light and friable soils that are not too calcareous, throughout the warmer and drier lowlands of Britain and it is especially frequent in cereal fields that have escaped herbicide treatment.