Thursday
Jun062013
Poppy
Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 11:31AM 
The current exhibit in the NYBG conservatory, Wild Medicine, contains an extensive assortment of healing plants from around the world. Out of the over 500 taxa that are presented (go here for the list of plants), my favorite has to be the beautiful orange poppy (Papaver spp.) shown above. Really a lovely plant, and the genus is the source of so many useful culinary, medicinal, narcotic, and frequently illegal products. Important cash crop for many of the Kachin farmers that I work with in northern Myanmar (see Shinlonga).