THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Poppy

Lisa Karen Miller

          Today’s column is dedicated to Mr Newton and son, a Fedex driver, and two other gentlemen who helped me pull my mower out of a ditch and repair it.  Blanche DuBois said it first, but I also rely on the kindness of strangers. There are no people kinder than those right here in Southcentral Kentucky.

          There has been perhaps no flower in history over which more blood has been spilled than the Opium Poppy, Papaver Somniferum.  Governments and drug lords have battled for control of its lucrative trade.  Countless human beings have succumbed to its siren song, only to be lured to an early grave.

          Ceres, the Greek grain goddess, was so exhausted after searching for her lost daughter that Somnos, the god of sleep, created poppies to bring her some rest. His concern was not solely for her; the crops had suffered due to her neglect.  After her nap, she resumed her duties, and the harvest was assured.  

          Native to Europe, and not points east as many believe, it traveled east and entered trade routes once its palliative powers were discovered. 

          As with other beautiful things, we no sooner found it than we began to abuse it.         

          In 1800, 50,000 pounds of opium was estimated to be consumed in Great Britain annually. It was available in cheap commercial preparations, such as Godfrey’s Cordial and Mother Bailey’s Quieting Syrup, given to crying babies. 

          Laudanum is a tincture of opium.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” was supposedly written under its influence.

          Wilkie Collins, Victorian novelist, took enough laudanum each day to kill all the guests at a large dinner party.  He had begun taking it for rheumatism; as his tolerance increased, so did his consumption.

          The “Oxy Pipeline,” is the route from Eastern Kentucky to clinics in Florida that freely write prescriptions for opiates.  They are now being investigated and closed down to address the addiction problem in the Bluegrass State.

          It’s not all bad news, however.

          Poppies sprout quickly after soil disturbance.  When the field of Waterloo was plowed, millions of poppies sprang up, just as they would 100 years later in Flanders Field – one for each soldier who died.  Thus they became the symbol of war remembrance.  Britons still wear them on November 11, Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom.

          Despite the negative press, the poppy itself is innocent.  It is our misuse of this flower that has caused the misery.  Someday perhaps we simply will enjoy contemplating the beauty of its papery petals.

          That alone can make you feel better.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller