Orange Flower Pictures

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 Greco-Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead.[1] Poppies are used as emblems on tombstones to symbolize eternal sleep. This aspect was used, fictionally, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to create magical poppy fields, dangerous because they caused those who passed through them to sleep forever.[1]

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.[2] 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". In the United States,[3][4] Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand artificial poppies (plastic in Canada, paper in the US[citation needed], UK, Australia and New Zealand) are worn to commemorate those who died in war. In the United States this is in conjunction with Veterans' Day, in Canada this is part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies, both falling on November 11, though generally poppies are worn from the beginning of November until that day. In New Zealand and Australia commemoration of the brave soldiers is celebrated on ANZAC day, April 25.[5]