The Blue Poppy "Meconopsis betonicifolia"
Friday, March 17, 2006

" Oh my god! that's a blue Poppy!"

" What's so special about it" I asked

I hated the look he gave me ,as he looked inside my camera and told "You probably won't see one again in your life time".

It was raining that day and i was standing next to a treachrous tin bridge when this bright blue flower caught my attention. I covered the lens of my camera with raincoat and clicked this picture. Never did i realize that it's one of the rarest flower in the world ,a hugely popular subject of research in west and also on the verge of extinction . I met a group of Iranian scholars ,who checked my pics and were thrilled to see it and one would go ahead and say "Iam glad i was able to see one in my life." .There were a group of Japenese expeditioners who came all the way to see one ,but couln't find one.

I posted in my online album . 4 people marked it as their favorite picture and a British botanist wrote me a long note about it.

In case you know a little botany or still want to know what it is?

Blue poppy or Himalayan poppy are synonyms. These names make reference to a plant that grows, as you can tell by the name, in the Himalayas, India.

Blue poppy.- It is a perennial herb with hairy, lance shaped, dark green basal and stem leaves. Of the Meconopsis genus this poppy is the most representative and liked one because of it's amazing tones of blue. It can survive very cold temperatures but can't tolerate hot ones. It grows in partial shade. There are 3 species of blue poppies and many hybrids grown in cultivation.

Meconopsis simplicifolia was discovered around 1848. It was the first one to be discovered. This species doesn't get as much attention as the other 2. It is said that it is not being cultivated for unknown reasons.Meconopsis Betonicifolia or Himalayan Blue Poppy was discovered in north-west Yunnan in 1886 and it's probably the most popular and widely grown member. It grows from 3 to 5 feet high and gets stems with 4 to 5 flowers each..Meconopsis Grandis or Tibetan Blue Poppy was discovered around the 1880's in east Nepal. It is the national flower of Bhutan.
Blue poppy legal situation.- this is a controversial subject because there is a famous drug that is extracted from poppies: opium. But what most people don't know is that opium is extracted only form the Opium Poppy or Papaver Somniferum and think that all poppies have this narcotic substance. Although governments do keep a close watch on poppy cultivation so that opium poppy is not grown for illegal purposes.
With that being said blue poppy cultivation is legal and so are the different products made from blue poppy: seeds, oil, flowers, etc.

credit : http://www.poppiesinternational.com/

posted by Vj @ Friday, March 17, 2006,

20 Comments:

At March 17, 2006 12:46 AM, Diggatron said...: myspace.com/backyardsympathy
At March 25, 2006 6:23 AM, Azoreano_Naufrago said...: ola dos Azores
At March 25, 2006 9:23 PM, migrante said...: hola
saludos desde tijuana en mexico
At March 25, 2006 11:42 PM, Vj said...: @ migrante
Oye tijuana! Gracias para el visting mi amd de blog viene a India y la abeja mi huésped.

@azores
Agradece companheiro! gostaria de visitar Açores.Vem a Índia, alguma vez. desejos
At March 26, 2006 12:46 AM, Soul-Curry said...: Yello!

Thats an awesum pic u took,I'm kinda clueless as far as botany goes but thats a pretty flower and oh we-ll,you're lucky? :P
Thunkoo for all the kind words,your blog rocks too,and no I dont say that often!
Happy travelling! and dp keep stopping by when you take those breaks.
Take care :)
At March 26, 2006 1:30 PM, migrante said...: Ojala:
algun dia sera posible.
we work with migrants and we will make a migrant's house in india, but i don't remember the city.
i will informed to you soon.
At March 26, 2006 11:07 PM, Vj said...: Well waiting @migrante
At March 28, 2006 5:49 AM, Vijay Krishnan said...: Cool blog you got going here...nice place to take care of wanderlust while parked in front of the computer I guess :)
At March 31, 2006 12:41 AM, mizfit said...: surprising how one simply stumbles upon rarities more frequently than the ones who seek it....nice blog u got going
At March 31, 2006 3:29 PM, L>T said...: I'm enjoying strolling down your blog & looking at the pictures. The poppy is interesting. his nearest relative here is the california poppy (eschscholziz californica) shades of orange. It's the California state flower.

Also, your mountainous travel pictures are awesome.
At April 01, 2006 9:32 AM, modjo said...: u write interesting blogs too... and the pics to go with them of course... mind if i add the page as a link from mine?
At April 03, 2006 10:30 PM, mizfit said...: awaiting ur next post...visit me smtime...
At April 03, 2006 10:31 PM, mizfit said...: awaiting ur next post...visit me smtime.
At April 10, 2006 1:08 AM, Trillium said...: Hi VJ - found you from the comment you left on 'diary of a weekend gardener'.

I've been to Nepal twice and absolutely loved it - went trekking around the Annapurna region 15 and 10 years ago. Your blog made me very nostalgic.

Also, take a look back at my blog and look under May 2005 - I've been growing blue poppies in my garden for the past few years - a touch of the Himalayas in Manchester!
At April 11, 2006 11:36 AM, Selvi Sindu said...: G8 blog.Cheers!!
At April 16, 2006 5:34 AM, Chitrangada said...: well nice post n pics here in ur blog :)

i don know much abt botany but i know abt beauty ..n blue poppy is beautiful .. n info abt the poppy is good too ..:)

its always good to capture rare things :)
At April 16, 2006 6:20 AM, Vj said...: Thank u all for dropping by.
Iam overwhelmed
At May 01, 2006 11:34 PM, Ajay said...: wow. that pic is awesome.
nice blog
i envy ur luck.
uve been to heaven :)
At July 31, 2006 2:48 AM, HIMALAYANSOUL said...: very beautiful, incredible capturing of the nature.
best of luck
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