Nature Bulletin No. 758  May 30, 1964
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Seymour Simon, President
Roberts Mann, Conservation Editor

****:POPPIES

In Flanders' fields, the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place ...

Those poignant lines, from a poem by John McCrae, inspired the 
selection of a red poppy as the symbol honoring those who fought and 
died in the first World War. We contribute to the aid of all disabled 
veterans by wearing a poppy on Decoration Day -- today.

Veterans of battles in France at Chateau Thierry, Belleau Wood and 
Cantigny, in 1918, saw poppies growing profusely in the wheat fields: 
the Corn Poppy so common in Europe and so often mentioned in 
English literature -- "all silk and flame, a scarlet cup". Its name derives 
from the custom wherein wheat is called corn ' in England and corn is 
known as maize or Indian corn.

The Poppy Family is made up of some 400 species of herbaceous plants 
and a few shrubs. They are widely scattered in various parts of the 
world and characterized by a milky or colored sap, as well as by showy 
flowers. In addition to the true poppies, it includes the prickly poppies, 
the Matilija poppy (often eight feet tall), the bushy tree poppy in 
California, the low-growing California poppies, and some familiar 
wildflowers such as our bloodroot.

There are at least 100 species of the true poppies, most of them native 
to Mediterranean regions. All have large, silky or papery, brightly 
colored petals surrounding a center with many stamens.

Poppies, because of their spectacular flowers, have long been popular 
garden plants. What tulips do in spring, the poppies do in midsummer -- 
provide a riot of vivid colors. In addition to the kinds with single 
flowers ranging from pure white through pink and rose to yellow, 
orange and scarlet, there are plumelike carnation-flowered poppies with 
fringed petals, and the peonylike double varieties. All of them have 
been obtained by selection and cross-breeding from four basic species: 
two perennials -the Iceland and the Oriental poppies -- and two annuals 
-- the Corn poppy, and the famous (or infamous) Opium poppy.

The Iceland poppy, so abundant and colorful in arctic regions during 
their brief summers, has a cluster of compound leaves from which arise 
several leafless stalks bearing red, orange, yellow, or white flowers.

The Oriental poppy, native to Mediterranean regions and Persia, has 
stiff hairy stems often 4 feet tall, and long, deeply lobed leaves. Its huge 
flowers -6 inches or more across -- have six scarlet petals marked with 
black at the base. They are followed by fruit capsules containing 
enormous numbers of tiny seeds. There are cultivated varieties with 
flowers of several other colors. The European Corn poppy has finely 
lobed, hairy leaves and much smaller flowers that may be white, purple, 
red, or scarlet.

The Opium poppy, native to the north coast of the Mediterranean where 
it grows wild, is similar in appearance to the oriental poppy but far 
different in its importance to mankind. The milky juice or latex 
obtained from its large seed capsules, before they ripen, becomes 
commercial opium after it is collected and dried. Several varieties arc 
extensively grown for that purpose in Turkey, the Balkans, Egypt, 
Persia, India, and other parts of southeast Asia.
Elsewhere it is grown for its oily edible seeds which, strangely, are free 
from any narcotic poison. They are chewed, used in cakes, sprinkled on 
bread or buns and, mixed with honey, make delicious filling for 
macaroons.  Opium and its by-products, such as morphine, are a boon 
and a curse to us.