Poppy Love

The silken, blood-red blooms of the corn poppy, so emblematic of the fragility of life but also hope and rebirth, typify this botanically uniform family. Two sepals protect the developing bud until they split apart and fall, revealing a tight ball of crumpled petals that unfurl to expose a central ring of stamens surrounding a stigmatic disc. While poppies do not make nectar, stamens are a rich source of pollen for bees. Below the disc is a multi-sectioned ovary, which later develops into the seed capsule: the perfect shaker to scatter seeds of the next generation.

Many members of the family produce latex, making the sap cloudy and typically white but also orange or, in the case of , commonly known as bloodroot, a bright red. The