Poppies in New Zealand Mousepad

poppies growing wild in the south islands, new zealand : Poppy flowers have 4 to 6 petals. Petals may be almost any colour, and some have markings. Before blooming, the petals are crumpled in the bud, and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away. A whorl of stamens is in the centre of the flower. Bees use poppies as a pollen source. Poppies belong to genera of Papaveraceae. Symbolism : Poppies have long been used as a symbol of both sleep and death: sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of the common blood-red colour of the red poppy in particular. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead. Poppies used as emblems on tombstones symbolise eternal sleep. This symbolism was evoked in the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists to sleep forever. A second interpretation of poppies in Classical mythology is that the bright scarlet colour signifies a promise of resurrection after death (sourced: wikipedia/poppy)