Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties | Biochemical Information
Legends, Myths and Stories | Uses | Formulas or Dosages | Warning | Bibliography
Scientific Names
- Papaver rhoeas L.
- Papaveraceae
- Poppy family
Common Names
- Ahiphena (Sanskrit name)
- Corn poppy
- Flanders poppy
- Ying-su-qaio (Chinese name)
Parts Usually Used
Seeds (non-narcotic), blossoms
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Description of Plant(s) and
Culture
Crepe-like flowers appear from late spring onwards and are followed by the distinctive poppy head in which the seeds are stored. The milky juice obtained from this has narcotic properties, though less so than the white poppy from which opium is obtained.
Poppies do not transplant easily. Better to start with seeds, in pots in the northern climates.
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Where Found
Grows wild in cornfields, hence its common name ‘corn poppy’. Mostly cultivated.
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Medicinal Properties
Astringent, antispasmodic, analgesic, carminative, sedative
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Biochemical Information
Alkaloid rhoeadine, no narcotics
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Legends, Myths and Stories
In classical mythology this plant was sacred to Ceres.
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Uses
The Red Poppy has a long honored reputation as a sedative. It contains a non-poisonous sedative alkaloid called rhoeadine. But, unlike its cousin the “Opium Poppy”, it contains no narcotics. The blossoms and seeds are also added to cough syrups. The flowers are used as a dye in teas, wine and ink.
Leaves and petals are used in a standard infusion on sore throats, cough, and chest congestion, catarrh, hay fever, asthma, dyspepsia, diarrhea, dysentery, insomnia, nerve pain, and other respiratory complaints.
A few crushed poppy heads added to a linseed poultice (1/4 lb. linseed, 1/2 oz. olive oil, both well stirred in one pint of boiling water) will reduce pain and swelling.
Poppy seed used as topping on cookies, breads, rolls; in cake fillings, fruit salads, canapés, and sweet vegetables. (These poppy seeds are not from the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum L.).
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Formulas or Dosages
Decoction: 1/4 oz. of poppy seeds simmered in 1 pint of water along with 1 tsp. each of nutmeg and ginger powder and taken 3 times a day immediately after meals for nervous digestion. A cup also taken before sleep to promote rest.
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Warning
Caution should be taken in cases of gastritis and colitis.
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Bibliography
The Herb Book
Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs
The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine
The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine
Webster’s New World Dictionary
The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book)
