Poppy Seeds
(Papaver Somniferum Linnaeus)
Preparation and Dosage (fully grown plant)
- The leaves are collected during the period in which the fruit capsules are maturing and are dried in the shade. They can be smoked alone or in smoking blends. A rather subtle opium effect will become apparent after consuming several joints. The dried leaves also can be brewed or boiled to make tea.
- The two most important products are the capsules (poppy heads) and the milky sap (latex). The plant contains the greatest amount of latex at the end of the flowering phase and while the fruit is first ripening. The latex level declines again as the capsule matures. For this reason, both the capsules and the latex are harvested shortly after the flowers have wilted. The capsules are broken off where they connect to the stalk and are used fresh or set out to dry. To dry, they should be spread out in a single layer (perhaps in the sun), as they may otherwise become moldy.
- The seeds continue to mature as the heads ripen and will be usable for sowing the following year (although they will not be as vital as those of a completely matured plant).
History
The opium poppy is known only as a cultivar. Although it is often thought that the plant was first cultivated in Asia, its home actually lies in central and southern Europe. Poppy was being cultivated in northerm Italy, Switzerland and southern Germany as early as the Neolithic period. It probably was used both as a source of food and as an inebriating plant. The inebriating and sedative effects of the seeds and oil obtained from them may not have escaped the lake dwellers. The Germanic people planted poppies in poppy or megan fields. The poppy is one of the most important medicinal plant in the history of pharmaceuticals. It contains a latex - the juice of the plant. When the latex is exposed to air, it coagulates into brown mass known as raw opium or simply opium. The methods for obtaining opium were discovered not in Southeast Asia - as is so often assumed - but in Stone Age central Europe in the area of Lake Constance (Bodensee).
Cultivation
The plant is easily propagated from seeds, which should be broadcast in spring. Some of the seeds will germinate after 10 to 15 days. The seedlings do not like to be transplanted. Once poppies have appeared in the garden, it is relatively certain that they will always reappear, for the plant sows itself quite readily. It also can become wild and begin to appear in neighboring gardens. When harvesting the capsules, care should be taken to leave the heads of some of the plants untouched so that they can ripen and produce seeds or the following year. Poppies will also spread if the dried plants are composted, as the seeds will be distributed with the compost. Poppies thrive best in warmer soils that are rich in nutrients, contain a great deal of humus and are well tended. The plant requires a great deal of lime and consequently prefers lime-rich soils.
