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Perky Poppies

© Audrey Stallsmith

Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday. . .
Shakespeare, Othello III, iii

For such a breezy, fluttery flower, the poppy carries some heavy baggage. The Shirley or rhoeas variety, pictured to the left here, is the most familiar. But any discussion of the family Papaver must, of necessity, be dominated by that most notorious of its members--somniferum.

Better known as the opium poppy, that flower is now considered a curse by some. But its ability to dull agony and promote sleep was once a blessing to sufferers who had few other painkillers or sedatives available. Somniferum derives from Somnus, the mythological Roman god of sleep, son of night, and brother of death.

Its principal alkaloid, morphine, takes its name from Somnus' son, Morpheus. He reportedly clutched a bunch of poppies and summoned up dreams.

So Keats could write, "ere the poppy throws/ Around my bed its lulling charities." Or Donne could say of death that "poppy or charms can make us sleep as welle. . ."

Laudanum, often swilled by insomniacs in old books, was a mixture of opium, water, and alcohol, but seems to have been a respectable sleep aid. I suspect that it probably produced as many addicts, however, as the infamous opium dens mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

The white poppy, also called Mawseed, was most often used for opium production. So it stands, in the Language of Flowers, for sleep, dreaminess, or oblivion. But it can also mean either "my bane" or "my antidote."

This ambivalence about the poppy is common. Gerard admitted that it "mitigateth all kinds of pains," but added that "it leaveth behinde oftentimes a mischiefe worse than the disease it selfe." He recommended that opium not be used except "in extreme necessitie." Not only might it promote addiction but "opium too plentifully taken doth also bring death." Drayton also warns of "henbane, poppy, hemlock here/ Procuring deadly sleeping. . ."

In small doses, opium is a stimulant rather than a narcotic, and was fed to tired horses. It is extracted by slashing the unripe poppy heads and allowing the milky juice to harden. Opium derives its name from the Greek "opus" or "juice."

There is some debate over whether or not it is legal to grow opium poppies in this country. Gardeners have been doing it for years, the flowers being larger and more striking than most other papaver species. Some simply know them as "lettuce" or "heirloom" poppies.