Poppy Power

I have been away for a number of days at my 'old' caravan with no Internet access hence no blogging.  Just before going I took some photographs as I walked through my local Ward Park and today I am showing you the "Poppy", Papaver orientale.

Poppies have long been used as a symbol of sleep, peace, and death: sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of the common blood-red colour of the red poppy in particular. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead.  Poppies used as emblems on tombstones symbolise eternal sleep.  This symbolism was evoked in the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep forever.

A second interpretation of poppies in Classical mythology is that the bright scarlet colour signifies a promise of resurrection after death

When grown for opium production, the skin of the ripening pods of these poppies is scored by a sharp blade at a time carefully chosen so that rain, wind, and dew cannot spoil the exudation of white, milky latex, usually in the afternoon. Incisions are made while the pods are still raw, with no more than a slight yellow tint, and must be shallow to avoid penetrating hollow inner chambers or loculi while cutting into the lactiferous vessels.  (see below)

Thank you for visiting my blog and I will now get caught up with reading your blogs since I was away.

Thank you all who have left comments.