Name: Poppy self-seed
Popular names: field poppy, fire flower.
Parts Used: Flowers.
Pharmacy name: poppy flowers – Rhoeados flos (formerly: Flores Rhoeados).
Botanical description. On a long peduncle, a large bright red flower with very delicate and fragrant petals develops from a drooping bud. But this fragrant splendor is not stored for long – only a few days. Then the petals fall off, and only one inconspicuous fruit remains – a box. Blooms from May to June. The poppy grows like a weed in cereal crops, in meadows, along roadsides, slopes, slopes and wastelands.
Collection and preparation. The petals are harvested immediately after the blooming of the flowers and immediately dried. But their color is most often not preserved, they become gray and colorless.
Active ingredients: readin and other less dangerous alkaloids in smaller quantities, red pigment, organic acids, tannins, saponins, bitterness, resin, mucus, starch and gums.
Healing action and application. Scientific medicine does not use poppy seeds.
Application in folk medicine. In folk medicine, on the other hand, the petals are still used in the form of syrup for coughs and anxiety in young children. Tea is given for pains of various kinds, as well as sleeping pills. The German National Health Service rejects the use of this plant because it has not been proven to work. However, there is no indication against its use as an auxiliary material in tea blends.
- Tea from poppy seeds: 1 tablespoon with the top of dried flowers, brew 1/4 liter of boiling water, strain after 5 minutes and, sweetened with honey, drink for coughing in small sips, very warm. Enough 2-3 cups every day.
Side effects. Despite the fact that the use of this plant is not recommended, it is safe to use poppy tea every day. This is due to the fact that it does not contain such active substances as morphine and papaverine, which are found in sleeping pills (Papaver somniferum L.). A fresh poppy plant is considered slightly poisonous.