Annual, (10-) 15-30 (-40) cm tall herb, usually almost glabrous all over, often branched from below, and densely leafy in the lower half with leafless, long peduncles shooting above. Leave very variable, often pinnatifid, rarely slightly lobed or partly pinnatisect; lowest narrowed into a short stalk, others sessile, amplexicaul, often somewhat distant, (1.5-) 3-5 (-10) cm long, 1-3 cm broad; primary lobes triangular to oblong, simple or lobulate; leaf base usually entire, somewhat rounded, usually giving ovate-oblong appearance to the upper leaves which become more conspicuously dissected above than the basal part; all leaves ± glabrous without bristle-tipped lobes. Peduncles (10-) 15-25 cm long, glabrous or very sparsely appressedly setose. Flower bud c. 10 mm long, 6-7 mm broad, ellipsoid acute or subapiculate, usually glabrous. Flowers usually 20-25 mm in diam., reddish-purple or reddish-orange, with or without a black blotch at the base. Petals 10-15 (-18) mm long, broadly obovate or suborbicular. Stamens as long as the ovary; filements filiform; anther c. 1 mm long, broadly elliptic. Capsule oblong, narrowed towards the base, 10-15 (-18) mm long, 5-8 mm broad, with ± as many ribs as the stigmatic lobes, glabrous; stigma rays 4-8, not reaching the shallowly lobed or usually wavy margin of the disk; seeds very small, kidney-shaped, suborbicular, less than 1 mm in diam., brownish.

Fl.Per. March-May.

Type: Iran, Ispahan, Aucher Eloy 4047 (G-W).

Distribution: Jordan, Sinai, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Superficially some forms resemble very closely to Papaver dubium L., but the leaves are amplexicaul with rounded base. The intermediate form “Papaver litwinowii Fedde ex Bornm.” with the habit of Papaver decaisnei but cauline leaves not or hardly amplexicaul is a good link between the two species, which has resulted in the merging of Papaver decaisnei with Papaver dubium. as an infra specific taxon of it, by some authors. But the upper cauline leaves have always broader and rounded bases which distinguishes it from Papaver dubium (incl. Papaver litwinowii) which has ± narrowed leaf bases and not or hardly semiamplexicaul condition. Papaver gaubae Cullen and Rech. f., is nothing but a form of this species with slightly deeply cut stigmatic lobe, which is not a very reliable character. There are specimens from Pakistan which exactly resemble the type specimen of Papaver gaubae, specially in habit, leaf shape and dentation, but have shallowly lobed or undulate stigmatic disk-margin.