Poppies/Opium (hope I don't get in trouble...)

Death Bean

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My story takes place in the First World War, when I've learnt poppies were abundant in France where our (I'm English) troops fought, and a soldier wrote a famous poem about the poppies growing on his friends' graves and that's how the Rememberance Day Poppy Appeal came about, etc etc.

My mum says you can't get opium from normal domestic poppies such as would have been sent home to 1918 sweethearts, you can only get it from 'special' poppies like the ones grown in the Middle East for the purpose.

So what makes the opium poppy so different to the French poppy that you can get opium from it? Does it look different, too? What would happen in you tried to make opium from normal poppies? Nothing? Or would it blow your head off/kill you/something not quite so interesting or page-turning?

Any info would be great!

xXx
 
reigningcatsndogs

reigningcatsndogs

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you get the opium from the seed pods that form once the blooms are done. If the poppy doesn't form a large seed pod, there is no place for the opium to be made. Check out some Australian websites as well as those in the middle east -- Australia is one of the largest suppliers of medicinal oopium in the world, and its vey carefully controlled there. The poppies have large blooms, the pods are large, and they come in all shades of red, pink, orange and white.

The poem you're thinking of is In Flanders Fields, by Lt Col John McCrae.

Papaver somniferum, which means sleep-bringing poppy, is the one that is used for opium.

ETA: Papaver rhoeas or corn poppies are the variety that grow in Flander's fields. The leaves can be mildly poisonous to animals that eat them, they are considered essentially a weed, and the seeds are harmless, and in fact often used as a condiment in cooking (ie poppy seed cake...)
 
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Juniper1

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Up until fairly recently you could order P. somniferum through seed catalogues. The flowers are distinctly different in appearance from other types of poppies, more complicated looking. The opium is processed from the seed pods and is not available in other poppy varieties.

There is an old Harper's article on the subject if you want to look it up.
 
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