The poppy is an intensely beautiful flower. It has come to represent vastly different things to different people. For some it represents the mysteries of the Orient with its bold colors, yet delicate petals, an unusual contrast. For others the proud flower has come to honor the lives of soldiers lost, and the price paid for national freedoms and honor. However you view the poppy, it is a striking plant that has been the subject of the arts internationally for generations.
The history of this fragile seeming, but actually quite hearty flower goes far back in time. The flower was cultivated at least as of 5,000 BC in Mesopotamia, the birthplace of civilizations. The plant grows well in almost any soil type, even in loose mortar or sand. It flourishes all around the world, from Africa to Asia throughout Europe, the Middle East and North and South America, and so is considered a 'cosmopolitan' plant family. One of the conditions in which poppies thrive is in fields across Europe; in fact the battlefields of Flanders were covered with them during World War I. After a poet (Lt. Col. John McCrae) mentioned poppies, they quickly became a symbol of remembrance for soldiers. Handmade paper poppies are often sold and worn in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. as a way of honoring soldiers and providing monetary support for their families.
The plant itself is most widely known for its bright scarlet color, but many varieties exist. There are many shades of red, burgundy, pink, white, orange, apricot, plum and blue, and some varieties are combinations of these colors, with or without a dark center. The bloom has four to six paper thin petals which fan out from the center, layering over one another slightly. Some varieties have ruffled edges. The flowers are hermaphroditic, some using insects and some using wind for pollination. Poppies also produce a fruit, a seed pod that bursts upon maturation. The poppy family, Papaveraceae, contains many genera, some grown for ornamentation, some for harvest, and most growing profusely in the wild. Poppies are harvested for cooking purposes, as well as to create opiates. Many varieties of poppies, such as the Mexican Prickly Poppy actually are poisonous if eaten.
The poppy used for cooking and for opiates is the Opium Poppy (Papaveraceae Somniferum). This flower produces tiny seeds which contain no opium, and are used on baked goods as a flavoring. The seeds also produce oil which is used as a drying agent by artists, as well as for other purposes. The plant itself produces a white latex which has been used (specifically the unripe head or seed pod of the poppy) to generate opium for thousands of years. It is believed these plants were used by ancient Sumerians (around 4,000 BCE) and were also used by Hippocrates (around 400 BCE) for medicinal reasons. In modern times, the latex or 'milk' of the poppy is collected and dried to produce a hallucinogenic drug used for medicinal and recreational purposes. Derivatives of opium include morphine, codeine, noscapine, and papaverine, all of which are used as pain reducers. The reputation for the recreational use of opium doubtless adds to the more mysterious qualities associated with poppies, even though only one of the many varieties is actually used in that endeavor.