Folklore and Medicinal History of Poppy- Rooted Podcast

botanical illustration of opium poppy detailing the bloom, seed, leaves, stems, and roots

Hello and welcome back to another week of Rooted! This week we are digging into a plant with a seed just as well known as its flower- poppies! There are a TON of different poppies out there, but for the sake of time, I'll be speaking about them generally, and then diving into specifics as needed!

Poppies are a part of the Papaveraceae family, more commonly known as the poppy family, with famous relatives like the ever-eddy and beautify bleeding heart, and the zany and delightful “Dutchman’s Breeches” which might just be my new favorite floral discovery.

But back to poppies- they are typically annuals or short lived perennials, but they reseed so freely that most of us just assume they are perennials..because once you’ve planted them - you’re never going to be poppy free again…at least..not if they can help it.

They are characterized by their long stalks (sometimes up to a meter long) and large, showy blooms, which can be almost any color. Most blooms have between 4-12 petals, which form a circular almost plate-like bloom around the tightly clustered whorl.

In temperate climates poppies can be found blooming from early spring to summer, but they actually prefer to get their start in the winter, where their tiny seeds have a better chance of establishing before someone bigger and faster growing has a chance to put down roots.

Since we aren’t talking about just one plant, they have a variety of different native regions, but most of them originate from the mediterranean basin, europe, or south east asia. Perhaps the most iconic poppy- the opium poppy or Papaver somniferum is native to the mediterranean basin, and prefers a more mild winter, temperate climate, and a sea breeze if it can get it!

When poppies go to seed, they form a dense little pod that kind of resembles a pomegranate. Inside there are thousands of tiny black seeds lying in wait to be sprinkled hither, thither- pretty much anywhere the wind (or peckish birds) will take them!

While we can’t all be whisked away to far away lands by breeze or bird, I can take you on a bit of a journey through time!

This week, we’ll start where we (almost) always do- Ancient Greece. Poppies are said to be a symbol of the god Morpheus, the god of dreams. If you remember back to the willow episode I told you all about persephone's mom and how she was worried sick? Yeah, well apparently our guy Morpheus created poppy seeds just to help her calm down and go to sleep.

They weren’t just for the gods though. Athletes at the time used to drink a mixture of honey, poppy seeds, and wine to help them stay healthy and strong during their competitions ...sort of like an ancient grecian gatorade I guess?! They did this because they believed the poppy was used to improve fertility, health, and strength.

Before that the assyrians- the people before the greeks- called them “the daughters of the field” due to the fact that poppies often grew alongside prized food crops like wheat, and was thought to help build up the soil.

Meanwhile in Egypt, the poppy seems to have been culturally important, popping up in tombs, jewelry, and even furniture. We aren’t entirely sure what they used it for or how, but it’s safe to assume it was probably about the same as everyone else- part painkiller, part immune booster, and part party starter.

Poppies are also commonly used as a symbol of remembrance for fallen soldiers, specifically the common poppy, also called the corn poppy- Papaver rhoeas. This flower gained this meaning due to the fact that it was often the first flower to reappear on the battlefield after both the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, and WWII. This is likely because the cannons and other weapons of that period left a great deal of lime deposits in the soil, which created a perfect place for poppies, while also helping to keep some of their competitors out. With something so beautiful being the first to bloom so shortly after something so hideous, it’s easy to understand why they would have become a symbol of hope and remembrance.

Besides just symbolism, poppies have played a vital role in medicine and culture for pretty much as long as we’ve known about them!

All species of poppy have been used as a pain killer and sedative all over the world, which is really interesting given the many different varieties and regions they are found in!

We know they are effective at treating these ailments because of the opium they contain in both their seeds, and in higher concentration in the milky sap that comes from their seed pods.

It is typically harvested by slashing the young seed pods while they are still green, which allows the sap to ooze out, where it is collected and allowed to air dry in wooden boxes, until it has fully cured. The resulting resin is what would have been historically solid as resin to be smoked, injected, or drank in some kind of wine or tea.

While we were turning to poppies and their opium to cure pain for centuries, it wasn't until the Victorian era that the use of opium as a recreational drug skyrocketed with the increase in opium dens, which allowed people to be social while enjoying the… whimsical effects of opium.

Opium causes users to feel an initial rush- a sudden burst of euphoria that makes them see the world through rose colored glasses. Then, it causes the user to fall into a deep state of relaxation where pain is decreased and they are at ease.

This happens because the alkaloids in opium are able to target specific receptors in the brain that are responsible for pain, coughing, etc, and essentially tells them to take some time off, thus literally releasing your inhibitions.

Now that we know how and why opium works, what the heck are opium dens? Well, they were all the rage in the Victorian era, and essentially were just like coffee shops, only instead of drinking caffeine, people were smoking opium- usually through a pipe or by using a sort of oil-lamp a la the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.

Contrary to the “Dark London” stereotypes Charles Dickens was partial to spreading, these opium dens weren’t just frequented by the “Seedy underbelly” types in London…pun fully intended I assume. Anyway, he was wrong in saying that only the lower class enjoyed a good opiate, as plenty of London's greatest minds and most inspired creatives did some of their best thinking around these parts and really just letting their minds run wild.

Dickens story telling in this case was actually rooted in a deeply enmeshed stereotype that immigrants from china were “ruining” the high society in london, which was laughable for MANY reasons…Firstly, the number of people who left china to move to england at that time was in the low hundreds, compared to in the US and canada, where populations were growing by the THOUSANDS due to folks looking to start fresh in a new country.

Secondly, I just want to know where Charles Dickens thought they were getting all this tea?! As if his highfalutin friends could have gone a day without their perfectly prepared cuppa, which was carefully cultivated over centuries by the very people he was now accusing of ruining his precious social hierarchy as if they weren't all marrying their siblings…..

Anyway, I share this mostly because historical depictions in Hollywood and beyond of opium dens tend to further this stereotype, and while it’s true that they were typically run by Chinese immigrants, to say they ruined london’s society is simply not true, and contributes to hateful misinformation that was intentionally spread by long-dead rich white dudes who couldn't accept that different doesn't mean less than.

While some folks were using opium to fuel their fiendish behavior, French pharmacist’s assistant who had become fascinated with how it worked, so much so that he did a series of experiments (mostly on himself) to find out which parts were the best at curing pain. That’s when he discovered what he called “morphine” , an organic alkaloid from opium that he named after the Greek god morpheus…because while he was a genius, he was also still a nerd at heart.

Morphine would go on to be a smashing success, with medical professionals suggesting it as a painkiller left and right, and even touting it as “a cure to opiod abuse”....oof…

As we know, morphine is still used today to treat chronic and or intense pain, because it is so effective. However, it remains to be highly addictive, so doctors don’t prescribe it with nearly as much fervor as they used to. It’s also how we discovered codeine, fentanyl, and the moment you’ve likely been waiting for- heroin ….the miracle drug of the 1870’ss that went on to launch the war on drugs…

See, as morphine’s heyday was ramping up, so was the american revolutionary war…and as soldiers were coming home, Doctors noticed something a little scary- once soldiers were on morphine, they really struggled to stop using it, and they started developing tolerance and dependency at an alarming rate, with many of the soldiers who had been prescribed morphine dying tragically of overdose. Society at that time was particularly unkind in their view of addiction, seeing morphine addiction as a shameful flaw of character, and shunning those who relied on it.

Now it seemed like morphine was even worse than opium when it came to addiction, so doctors searched high and low for an answer…and wouldn't you know it, in 1874 they found heroine- the perfect cure for morphine addiction because it was exactly the same, but different!

Heroine was created by Chemist Alder Wright, who decided the logical cure to any addiction was to give folks that very thing, but add in a few other chemicals to make it less appealing…coming as a shock to no one- it turns out that opiates are not a cure for opioid addiction, and heroin was actually WAY more addictive than even morphine. In the 1890s a chemist working for Bayer even found a way to synthesize heroin, making it even more widely available- oh boy! By 1907 herion addiction was a wide spread issue many Americans were facing, so the FDA made opioids a controlled substance, as they continue to be today.

Of course, we are still allowed to grow poppies and use their seeds- though technically opium poppy, more commonly known as breadseed poppy *is* illegal to grow here in the United States. However, most local law enforcement isn’t going to arrest you or force you to dig them up if it’s clear they are just being grown as an ornamental or for your own personal baking.. However, if you plan to grow them on a commercial scale, you can expect a knock on your door, or worse, the DA, as was the case for Cody Xiong when he was caught with roughly 500 million dollars worth of opium poppies growing in his backyard in 2017, though his charges were later dropped.

Even if they AREN’T opium poppies, all poppy seeds contain small amounts of opium, which is why anyone selling them commercially to be used in food products MUST rinse them to wash out as much of the opium as possible before selling them in your supermarket. Even if they weren’t, it’s very unlikely that you would see any effects of opium in such a small concentration, so don’t worry about that everything bagel or lemon poppy seed muffin- even if you grew the seeds yourself and sprinkled them in with reckless abandon. It would take a LOT of them for you to feel the full effects of opium…with that in mind, you may still want to skip them if you have a drug test coming up, as in some instances they can still give you a positive reading for opiates in your system.

Whether you know poppies for their beautiful blooms, complicated history, or as a crunchy addition to your favorite baked goods, I hope you enjoyed taking this deeper dive into all the roles that they have played- both in our past and our present!

Sources:

Episode 28: Grecian Gatorade & Morpheus’s Magic Cure - Poppy

Episode 29: Malaria Proof Myrtles & Constant Contradictions - Tea tree

Episode 27: Floral Footed Foxes & Cheesy Pickup Lines- Foxglove