Young Brunette Girl Outside On The Field With Red Poppies

Poppies have long been used as a symbol of both sleep and death: sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of the common blood-red color of the red poppy in particular. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead. Poppies used as emblems on tombstones symbolize eternal sleep. This symbolism was evoked in the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists to sleep forever.
A second interpretation of poppies in Classical mythology is that the bright scarlet colour signifies a promise of resurrection after death.
The poppy of wartime remembrance is Papaver rhoeas, the red-flowered corn poppy. This poppy is a common weed in Europe and is found in many locations, including Flanders, the setting of the famous poem "In Flanders Fields," by the Canadian surgeon and soldier John McCrae. In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand artificial poppies (plastic in Canada, paper in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand) are worn to commemorate those who died in war. This form of commemoration is associated with Veterans' Day in the United States and with Remembrance Day in Canada, both of which fall on November 11. In Canada, poppies are often worn from the beginning of November until the 11th. In New Zealand and Australia, the soldiers are commemorated on ANZAC day, April 25 although the poppy is still commonly worn around Remembrance Day.
The California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, is the state flower of California.