Poppy

Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

The Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) must surely be one of Britain's best-known plants. Its brilliant blooms are splashed along roadsides and in recently disturbed field edges and waste places across England and lowland Scotland and Wales from June to August, brightening many a dreary corner. We wear poppy badges for weeks leading up to Remembrance Day (November 11); the red flowers bloomed in abundance in the trenches and bomb-pitted "no man's lands" of the First and Second World Wars, and have come to symbolise the blood sacrifice of soldiers in those and other wars. We've had a few of the scarlet blooms make their way (unassisted) into our newest flower beds this year, presumably blown over the fence from our neighbour's patch next door. We'll have to scarify the ground again this autumn so we can be sure get some more of these widespread annuals next year. The flowers only last a single day, but they certainly make an eye-catching patch of colour against the greenery.

Beyond the UK, the Common Poppy is found across Europe, north Africa, the Middle East and western Asia. It's a well-known arable weed, long associated with crop fields and an age-old symbol of agricultural fertility as a result. Both the Romans and the ancient Egyptians wove garlands of the flowers for their gods in an effort to ensure the fertility of their fields and the bounty of their harvests. The plant's tiny but plentiful seeds are widely used in foods (particularly sprinkled on breads and added to salad dressings), and the making of oil. As might be expected, given its long association with humanity, the Common Poppy played a significant role in traditional medicine, and various parts of the plant were used to treat insomnia, fever, constipation, gout and other aches and pains. However, given its mild toxicity (due to the presence of various alkaloids), the plant was largely replaced by less potentially harmful options over time. Though beautiful, Common Poppy flowers produce little nectar, so aren't particularly attractive to nectar-feeding species. They're rich in pollen though, producing almost three times as much per flower as the top-ranked perennial plant (Common Mallow) in a recent UK study. That makes them a real magnet for bees, pollen beetles, and hoverflies. Reason enough to keep them around!