Bloom Time

The first flowers filling my flower beds with color this year!... more

by Heidi Smith

Title

Bloom Time

Artist

Heidi Smith

Medium

Photograph

Description

The first flowers filling my flower beds with color this year!

The Poppy is an Angiospermae or flowering plant of the family Papaveraceae. Ornamental poppies are grown for their colorful flowers; some varieties of poppy are used as food, whilst other varieties produce the powerful medicinal alkaloid opium which has been used since ancient times to create analgesic and narcotic medicinal and recreational drugs. Following the trench warfare of the 1st World War which took place in the poppy fields of Flanders, red poppies have become a symbol of remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime.

Poppy flowers have 4 to 6 petals, many stamens forming a conspicuous whorl in the center of the flower and an ovary consisting of from 2 to many fused carpels. Poppies can grow to be over 4 feet tall, and 6 inches across. (Simon, Chadwick, and Craker 1984) The petals are showy, may be of almost any color and some have markings. The petals are crumpled in the bud and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away. The poppy will become dormant after blooming. Poppies are in full bloom late spring to early summer. (Simon, Chadwick, and Craker 1984) Most species secrete latex when injured. The pollen of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, is dark blue. The Papaver Somniferum poppy is mainly grown in Eastern and Southern Asia, and South Eastern Europe. It is believed that it originated in the Mediterranean region. (Jonsson and Krzymanski, 1989) The pollen of the field poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is dark green to grey. Bees use poppies as a pollen source.

Info from Wikipedia

Uploaded

February 11th, 2013