The flowers for their beauty, elegance, tones and representations, arouse emotions and feelings from love to joy to gratitude. Regularly, when we try to express to another person what we feel, believe or think, be it love, gratitude, joy or empathy, we use flowers to communicate it. All this represents a flower, but the flower has its own meaning, appearance, use and care for this reason in this article we will learn a little more about what Poppies are.
poppy flower
The flower is the generative combination of plants called spermatophyta or phanerogam. The occupation of a flower is to originate seeds through sexual reproduction. For flowers, seeds are the next reproduction and serve as the main intermediate through which the genres subsist and transcend themselves.
The poppy is a barbaric and delicate flower. All of us have witnessed seeing fields full of poppies, completely colored by the bright red of their corollas as far as the eye can see, creating waves and furrows. They germinate on the side of the highways and go into the fields. The poppy is a herbaceous plant with an upright stem, giving large flowers and blackish seeds. It develops in temperate regions around the world, typical of North America, Asia and Europe. This flower is seated on a broad and thin stem and consists of four bright red petals.
Meaning of the Colors of Poppies
The flowers are characterized by having a great variety of colors that are assigned meanings that, depending on the occasion, are given or presented. The poppy is a highly sought after flower and can be found in many different colors. Each color refers to a meaning for which it has determined the indications of said flower.
red poppy
Deciphered as a barbaric flower, as a flower that enchants for its beauty and its specific color. It symbolizes selfishness in its purest particularity. Common in Spain but in force throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa, it is a plant closely linked to human activity, specifically to the cultivation of cereals.
orange poppy
It is a badge of joy and happiness. Likewise, the orange color provides the adjective of friendship, therefore, it is a flower whose indications are positive and represents hope, positivity. However, it has also inherited some conforming meanings from the color red.
white poppy
Its meaning is associated with deep and pure sleep with happiness and true love. These flowers are inspected as real poppies or opium poppies, since it is used to extract opium, among other substances. Above all it is planted in countries like Afghanistan or India.
yellow poppy
They are very abundant in Iceland and it is appreciated that these flowers divide the way to a new era. The symbology of the poppy for this attribution is associated with fertilization. The most conspicuous are the yellow California poppies. These poppies, although they grow naturally, are also used artistically.
red poppy
The red poppy plant or wild poppy is scientifically known as papaver rhoeas, it belongs to the papaveraceae family like greater celandine and opium poppy.
Class: Magnolioside
Order: Papaverales
Family: Papaveraceae
Genre: Papaver
Origin and Distribution
The plants stood out for being distributed in various areas of the planet, especially with beautiful flowers that have come to spread in various areas of the world; the poppy spreads throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, a fact that may imply that it is a variety native to these regions of the planet.
Characteristics of the Poppy
The maintenance of a plant is of the utmost importance to certify its adequate and healthy progress, primarily for plants that are housed in gardens, especially those that are species of flowers and ornaments where adequate environments must be provided for their progress.
Stem
The poppy is a shrub with a herbaceous appearance that can reach 50 cm in height. It has erect and slightly divided stems with fine hairs. It is covered by a fine layer of fluff. It is known as an annual species or, in other words, in the course of a year this plant germinates, flowers and dies.
Substratum
The soil is the surface segment of the earth's crust that descends from the decomposition or physical and chemical variation of rocks and from the remains of the actions of living beings that settle on it. This type of poppy plant requests soil that is dry but has been removed
Seeds
The fruit of this plant is a unilocular capsule containing numerous seeds. With simulated septa, pale green, oval representation - subglobose, cut by a kind of lid on the upper part (disc) with 8-18 rays and with numerous sub-millimeter seeds, which are shooed through holes under the upper disc ( poricidal dehiscence). These microscopic seeds are kidney-shaped, honeycombed with polygonal mesh and brown in color. They thrive from early to late spring. They do not resist hot climates or humidity. All seeds expire, these seeds have a durability of two (2) years.
Leaves
Poppy leaves are very different, they can be narrow, long, short, etc., they also have jagged edges. They grow alternately along the stem and have a single central nerve. The leaves, which are born alternate along the stem, without petiole, are pinnate and very toothed on the margins with a single central vein.
Flores
What is most distinguished about the poppy plant are its flowers. They are solitary with petals wrinkled into blooming buds that, when cracked, expose a beautiful penetrating color that manages to transform from the traditional scarlet to orange or white. They measure about 5 or 6 cm in diameter. In general, the flowers show some dark spots in the basal portion. Poppies bloom in a certain state, in late spring and early summer.
The penetrating scarlet colored Poppy, widened and almost spherical, has four fine petals and two hairy sepals. The petals are very fine and age quickly, so the flowers cannot be used for floral decorations. The stamens, black in color, establish a ringed set near the harem, which gives it the appearance of a black button. The poppy has been incorporated into agriculture since ancient times. Their lifespan is appropriate to the sum of the cereal crops, they flower and granan before the harvesting of the harvests. Although it is considered a weed, it is easy to fight with the usual pest control methods.
Poppy Care
The importance of flowers is to contribute to the reproduction of plants. When insects, birds and some vampires come to look at the flower and steal its nectar, they are unknowingly pollinating vegetation by moving plant dust or sperm from the male stamens to the female pistils.
Reproduction
When referring to multiplication, it is related to the reproduction of plants, which can be in two ways: sexual or asexual. When talking about sexual, it refers to the basic method of the seeds where by the action of the wind or the pollination of bees, where the male cells are transported to the female cells of another flower. In asexual reproduction, it is when a plant can have both male and female organs present that generates the birth of protuberances and branches to be cut and planted, being its reproduction by seeds.
In the case of the poppy, the dispersal and formation of the seeds supports the progress of a new red poppy plant. The time in which the plant sprouts and produces a fruit is around three (3) months. Red poppy seeds require high temperatures for them to hatch, and can go dormant for some time.
Location
Plants need to be exposed to a large amount of sunlight to carry out the different biochemical methods that benefit the development of the plant and also allow them to carry out the photosynthesis step used by plants. Poppies are plants that grow best in dry, poor soils that receive a lot of sunlight.
Irrigation
Humidity can create one of the fundamental situations for the proper development of plants, having great control over the internal substance of the plant. It should be watered with very little water, less than more, cautiously to avoid decomposition of the roots. They do not require a lot of water, so they do not tolerate waterlogging. A couple of times a week is more than enough and depending on the season of the year.
Substratum
Substrates belong to the area or space where a plant can live or develop. The soil is a characteristic element of the mountains and thick environments since it normally reinforces important ecosystem techniques, such as the filtration of nutrients, the disintegration and the availability of water. The surfaces provide anchorage, water, and food for plants. The poppy plant opts for dry soils with very few nutrients, they can be easily found in cereal fields and along roadsides. They do not require a specific land to germinate, the only thing is that where it is planted, it must be left until it completes its cycle because it does not accept that they change places.
Properties and Uses of the Poppy
Plants stand out for being one of the most used raw materials by human beings to obtain a wide variety of benefits, highlighting firstly the ornamental beauty they possess and the attractiveness, especially for the flowers that are born from them, in addition to presenting medicinal properties that are beneficial for various uses. The species of red poppies has different properties and use of poppies, which are specified below:
culinary use
Poppy leaves can be cooked like spinach, when they are harvested before the flower buds. They taste quite nice. But this plant produces alkaloids, generating a relaxation effect; therefore its use is not very normal. If you want a plant for relaxation, lemon verbena is recommended. For herbivores it becomes poisonous, that effect of mild poison is eliminated at the moment of cooking it. The seeds do not have the same action as the leaves, these seeds can be used in the preparation of bread and pastries as a condiment. The petals can be used in the preparation of syrups, jams and soft drinks.
Medicinal use
The fact of having the effect of relaxation, also sedatives and hypnotics can be used when there are nervous problems or insomnia or simply emotional stress. Its use as infusions benefits patients with respiratory problems. With asthma, mucus, cough and colds they give positive and beneficial results for these ills. Reduce the effects of conjunctivitis by rubbing the eyes with an infusion of its flowers, which must be well filtered. Another of the conditions of its compounds is its antiseptic therapeutic action, consequently it admits that it is manipulated to clean and heal wounds.
The preparation of the infusions can be used with a coffee spoon to grab a tablespoon of petals cut into pieces and dried and placed in a cup of boiling water. Let it rest for five minutes, infiltrate and can be sweetened with honey. Three times a day for short periods, it will not cause any negative effects.
Treaty of Beauty
The plants are a great representative of the female sex, being used for the common use of beauty and conservation, in the case of the Poppy it can be used for the elaboration of some very beneficial cosmetic products for the skin and for the elaboration of perfumes for its peculiar natural fragrance.
Contraindication
Managing with prudence is managing with intelligence, it is necessary before consuming any plant to consult with a health specialist. However, it does not have problematic side effects, a poor intake is always synonymous with risk. Excessive use of this plant can cause intestinal damage and severe stomach pain.
We hope this article has been helpful, we leave you others that will surely interest you: