Poppy

[citation needed] Poppy seeds are rich in oil, carbohydrates, calcium and protein.

It is used for production of dried latex and opium, the principal precursor of narcotic and analgesic opiates such as morphine, heroin, and codeine.

Poppy seeds and fixed oils can also be nonnarcotic because when they are harvested about twenty days after the flower has opened, the morphine is no longer present.

[4] Poppy cultivation is strictly regulated worldwide, with the exception of India where opium gum, which also contains the analgesic thebaine, is legally produced.

[6] Papaver somniferum was domesticated by the indigenous people of Western and Central Europe between 6000 and 3500 BC.

[9] Juglets resembling poppy seed pods have been discovered with trace amounts of opium and the flower appeared in jewelry and on art pieces in Ancient Egypt, dated 1550–1292 BC.

[10][11] The eradication of poppy cultivation came about in the early 1900s through international conferences due to safety concerns associated with the production of opium.

In the 1970s the American war on drugs targeted Turkish production of the plant, leading to a more negative popular opinion of the U.S.[12] The girl's given name "Poppy" is taken from the name of the flower.

This symbolism was evoked in L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep forever.

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

In Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, artificial poppies (plastic in Canada, paper in the UK, Australia, South Africa, Malta and New Zealand) are worn to commemorate those who died in war.

In Canada, Australia and the UK, poppies are often worn from the beginning of November through to the 11th, or Remembrance Sunday if that falls on a later date.