Poppy Flower
(Other names: Arıgülü, Gelingülü, Gelinotu) It is a sample plant of the poppy family. It grows quite commonly in the countryside, in crop fields, on the edges of roads and gardens in our country. It is an annual or sometimes biennial herbaceous plant that can grow up to 60 cm tall. Its thin and long single trunk covered with hairs sometimes has a structure that branches out. Its leaves are deep, indented and asymmetrical.
Its flowers, which bloom from spring through summer and have bright red petals, have a black spot under these petals. The perforated seed capsule is barrel-shaped and flat-topped and carries its numerous seeds. The plant reproduces by shedding its seeds. However, since it is considered a harmful plant to crops, efforts are made to destroy it in the fields when it grows excessively.
The poppy plant contains tannin, sticky plant fluid and low levels of sedative alkaloids. In some places, its leaves are collected and sold in markets. It is roasted like a vegetable and cooked by breaking eggs on top, or it is eaten by adding it to salads.
Chemical Composition: Petals contain oily substances, red dye, poppy and readine acid, helme, resin, readine alkaloid, reagenin, anthocyanin glycoside mecosianin, mecopelargenin, small amounts of morphine, etc. The aboveground parts and fruit capsules have been found to contain readine alkaloid, small amounts of morphine and narcotine.
In Which Diseases Is It Used: It has a moderate (calm) sleep-inducing and cough-soothing effect.
In folk medicine, the leaves are recommended for incontinence, diarrhea, dysentery, insomnia, palpitations, stomach aches, etc. The fruit capsule is boiled and used for palpitations, stomach aches, irregular menstrual periods, coughs, especially in children, and the onset of tuberculosis, etc.
Usage: 1 tablespoon of petals is boiled with 0.5 liters of water and left for 1 hour. A coffee cup is taken 4 times a day before meals. 1 coffee spoon of seed capsules is boiled in the same amount of water for 10 minutes and drunk in the same way.
In our folk medicine, poppy (papaver somniferum L.) is also used. In order to use poppy in medicine, it is grown in warm places and in gardens as an ornamental plant. The fruit capsules are used in boiled form for diseases such as stomach and intestinal pain, cough, diarrhea, dysentery, vomiting. It is used externally for washing wounds and as a gargle for blisters on the gums. The fresh leaves (in the form of a poultice) have a soothing effect against insect bites. Those suffering from hemorrhoids can take the flower infusion. The seeds are used in the confectionery and food industry.
Although not as powerful as its close relative, the poppy, in the same family, the poppy is also used for its health-promoting effects. These effects and methods of use are summarized below:
1. It is effective against cough and cough-related irritation.
2. It has a softening effect on the chest in colds, bronchitis and the common cold,
3. It is an expectorant.
To provide all these effects, poppy leaves are collected on a cool morning of a dry day and dried on paper in the shade. An infusion is prepared by taking 1-2 teaspoons of dried petals and brewing them in four glasses of boiling water for 10-15 minutes. One glass of this infusion can be drunk three times a day.
In addition, poppy has calming effects. It is effective against insomnia. In order to benefit from these effects, the petals of its flower are mixed with honey and made into a paste and eaten.
