A Poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily
Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants,
often grown for their colorful flowers. One species of poppy, Papaver
somniferum produces edible seeds, and is also the source of the crude
drug opium which contains powerful medicinal alkaloids such as morphine
and has been used since ancient times as analgesic and narcotic
medicinal and recreational drugs. Following the trench warfare which
took place in the poppy fields of Flanders, during the 1st World War,
red poppies have become a symbol of remembrance of soldiers who have
died during wartime.
