The Poppy is one of the most recognisable flowers of the UK countryside and across the world due to its links to remembrance parades and the poppies growing in the fields of previous war battles (Flanders Fields). It is also used in medicine to produce pain killers and other uses.
Growing in fields, along roadsides and in gardens the Poppy is easily recognisable due to its red flowers, however poppies are not always red and can be yellow, purple, orange or even white.
Poppy seeds are used in culinary dishes such as Turkish poppy seed cake or sprinkled across the top of bread.
There are many different varieties of poppy (List below from Wikipedia) that grow across the world.
- Papaver – Papaver rhoeas, Papaver somniferum, Papaver orientale, Papaver nudicaule, Papaver cambricum
- Eschscholzia – Eschscholzia californica
- Meconopsis – Meconopsis napaulensis
- Glaucium – the horned poppies including Glaucium flavum and Glaucium corniculatum
- Stylophorum – celandine poppy
- Argemone – prickly poppy
- Romneya – matilija poppy and relatives
- Canbya – pygmy poppy
- Stylomecon – wind poppy
- Arctomecon – desert bearpaw poppy
- Hunnemannia – tulip poppy
- Dendromecon – tree poppy
When the poppies age towards autumn, they form dried seed pods that act as shakers in the wind and spread the Poppy Seeds for the next plants to grow.
Sparrowhawk Bushcraft 