Field poppies ~Papaver rhoeas~

Field poppies are becoming a rarer sight in many European countries because of herbicides and weed killers. They can occasionally be seen in large numbers in fields of cereal.

Seeds of Papaver rhoeas can survive for decades until the earth is ploughed or disturbed in other ways. Shelling in the Somme produced fields of poppies that was adopted by the British Legion as a symbol of the First World War dead. Petals are shed after one day but a vigorous plant can produce up to 400 flowers