Walking the dog I skirted a field of red poppies. I’ve seen the odd few red poppies growing among cereal crops before but this large field was FULL of red poppies. Nothing but poppies.
Apart from the illegal drug connection are they grown and processed for any other purpose? I discount flowers for decorative purposes.
I should add that the location is in the North of England.
<Margaret Hamilton mode>
Poppppppiess…poppppiesssss.
</Margaret Hamilton mode>
My WAG is that they are being grown for their seed. We have to get our poppyseed filling somewhere!
Actually, poppies are very POPular flowers. I’m sure at least part of that crop is for decorative purposes!
They are grown alone roadsides in our area for state beautification projects. The potency of their drug content is determined by the climate in which they grow- in northern climes, they don’t produce anything worth worrying about. In America, growing opium poppies is perfectly legal because of this. I know all this because I love poppies and have grown them for years.
Poppies aren’t grown commercially as a cut flower, since they don’t work very well as a cut flower. The cut stem must be seared with a match immediately upon cutting or it will droop and fade within hours.
Poppy seeds, IIRC, come from the same plant that produces opium (Papaver somniferum, IIRC). This plant is illegal to grow in the U.S., but seeds are often traded among gardeners, who euphemistically call it the “lettuce-leaf” poppy.
Another problem is that there are many different species of flowers, even different generae, that are referred to by the popular name “poppy.” So without know exactly what plant you saw, I for one can’t offer any other ideas.
When you see an entire field of red poppies in England, it means that the field was probably ploughed in the last twelve months and has probably not had herbicides used on it; poppies grow best on recently disturbed soil.
Although the seeds of the wild poppy are edible, they are not commonly grown for this purpose; it’s possible though that they were being grown to be harvested for commercial ‘wild flower seed’ mixes.
The plant you saw is most likeyl Papaver Rhoeas
When you see an entire field of red poppies in England, it means that the field was probably ploughed in the last twelve months and has probably not had herbicides used on it; poppies grow best on recently disturbed soil.
Although the seeds of the wild poppy are edible, they are not commonly grown for this purpose; it’s possible though that they were being grown to be harvested for commercial ‘wild flower seed’ mixes.
The plant you saw is most likeyl Papaver Rhoeas
It must be me, but when I saw the thread I thought it was titled Red Poopies
Just wanted to say that my sense of Canadian patriotism prompted me to click on this thread.
No, the potency of opium content depends on which species of poppy.
Papaver somniferum is the opium poppy. Don’t know about the situation in the U.S., but it’s a controlled drug in Canada: Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Schedule 1, Item 1
The poppy that is commercially available is Papaver orientalis, which doesn’t have an opium content: plant catalogue
P. somniferum is available in some seed catalogs as “bread poppy,” a supposedly opium-reduced variety. We grew some for the ornamental pods as well. (but I didn’t try testing the opium content)
And indeed, Northern Piper, all the catalogs say “Cannot ship to Canada.”
We have them growing in California, as a matter of fact there are several plants growing down
the street from me. They look like the opium types you see on the news. You can just
get some poppy seeds from the natural food store & throw them in the yard & presto, perfectly
legal nice flowers!
BTW, I read the state flower of California has a trace amounts of opium in it.
I know this has nothing to do with poppies having drug uses, but I know here in the States fake wire-stemmed poppies are sold for donations to Veterans’ Services on Veterans’ Day.
Just a useless bit of info concerning poppies. But I wonder why they use poppies - wouldn’t violets make more sense with a tie in to Purple Hearts?
This tradition is imported from the UK where (equally fake) poppies are sold in connection with Armistice Day (which is on Nov 11, for the same reason that Veteran’s Day is). Poppies are used because of a popular poem, “In Flanders Fields” in which poppies (which grew profusely in the churned-up earth of the battlefields of Northern France) are used to symbolise fallen soldiers. Armistice Day in the UK honours those who have died serving in wars as well as those who have survived (as opposed to Veterans’ Day, which honours primarily those who have survived) and so a symbol of the fallen is appropriate.
Why are fake poppies used? Partly because the Royal British Legion, an ex-servicemen’s association, raises money by manufacturing them, but mainly because you can’t get fresh poppies in November.
The full text of “In Flanders Fields” is here: http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/LostPoets/McCrae.html
I’ve read all the above with great interest but no-one seems to know if there could be a commercial reason for growing PAPAVER RHOEAS. (Thank you for the identification, Mangetout!)
I happen to know that our local newspaper photographer, from “The Northern Echo,” has taken photographs and a reporter is following up the story.
I’ll keep you informed.
The seeds are grown and sold commercially, for people who might wish to grow them in a wildflower garden.
(like here for example.
I have seen some nice ones for sale on ebay.com too.
This unusual display of poppies has excited great local interest and I am somewhat disappointed to learn (from a local newspaper reporter)…
I managed to speak to the farmer who owns the field (Christopher Hodgson)
and he said that the reason there are so many poppies this year is because
of the mild and wet spring we have just had.
He runs an organic farm and he is still growing crops among the poppies, but
the weather had caused a second germination - thus the vast number of
poppies.