The Papavaraceae
A Homeopathic study of the Poppy
family
Dr. Julie Geraghty
Dr. Jonathan Hardy
Dr. Elizabeth Thompson
The Papavaraceae
Botany
Symbology
Homeopathy:
Family themes
Vital Sensation
Remedies
Cases
Papavaraceae:
44 Genera
760 Species
Most are herbaceous
but the family includes
some woody shrubs
and a genus of small
tropical trees.
Many garden
ornamentals and
pharmaceutically
important plants.
Most species are found
in the Northern
Hemisphere.
All species of
poppies are
attractive and most
are cultivated as
ornamental plants.
California Poppy
Prickly Poppy
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
their (commonly)
blood-red color.
In Persian literature, red poppies, especially red corn
poppy flowers, are considered the flower of love.
They are often called the eternal lover flower.
In Greco-Roman
myths, poppies
were used as
offerings to the
dead.
A second meaning for the depiction and use of
poppies in Greco-Roman myths is the symbolism of
the bright scarlet colour as signifying the promise of
resurrection after death.
Argemone mexicana
The “Prickly
poppy”has a rich
history in ritual and
Shamanic practice.
Known by the Aztecs
as "nourishment of
the dead”.
The poppy of wartime remembrance is
Papaver rhoeas, the red flowered Corn
poppy.
This poppy is a common weed in Europe and is found
in many locations, including Flanders Fields, the
setting for the famous poem by Canadian surgeon
and soldier, John McCrae, "In Flanders Fields”.
The poppies referred to in the poem grew in profusion
in the disturbed earth of the battlefields and
cemeteries where war casualties were buried and
thus became a symbol of Remembrance Day.