Opium Poppy, Capsules In Glass Domes

A glass bell jar with a wooden base that holds a collection of opium poppy capsules—Papaver somniferum—selected for their elegant shape and the natural variety of their surfaces.

Papaver somniferum has an extraordinarily ancient cultural history: the opium poppy was already known in the civilizations of the Near East and is often associated with sleep, dreams, and oblivion. It is no coincidence that, in Greco-Roman mythology, the poppy appears among the attributes of Hypnos, the personification of sleep, and Morpheus, the deity associated with dreams.
What we commonly call a “poppy seed” is not the fruit: the tiny seeds are contained within the capsule, while the characteristic “head” that we see in the composition is the plant’s mature fruit. The shape of the capsule, with its small geometric crown, has also become over time a recognizable decorative element in botanical illustration and natural history collections.

In the old opium fields, when these capsules were still green, small incisions were made from which a white latex oozed out; as it oxidized, it darkened: opium resin. 

Dimensions: H: 24 cm, Diameter: 18 cm
Weight: 0.5 kg

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