| mckeonj
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| 255428. Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:37 am |
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| Flowers of Sulphur- sulphur crystals formed by the condensation of sulphur from gasses on the walls of volcanic vents and industrial vents. Also known as 'brimstone', and stocked by chemists of old; mixed with treacle and applied internally to purify the blood. |
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| mckeonj
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| 255429. Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:41 am |
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| Flower - formerly the name given to externally visible cancerous growths: the first television drama broadcast by the Baird system was called "The man with a flower in his mouth". |
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| Flash
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| 255430. Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:46 am |
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Nice idea, this: a list of word associations, good for Stephen's notes if this topic comes up (as it's likely to). Here's another:
In English cryptic crossword puzzle clues the word "flower" by convention indicates "River" (sometimes just the initial letter R) on the basis that a flower is something that flows.
TT, can you expand on this, please?
| Quote: | | poppies - sleepiness in wizard of oz, general ignorance - drug test, actually true! |
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| dr.bob
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| 255465. Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:58 am |
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| THiNK TaNK wrote: | | h. Flower, the skunk from Bambi |
Please tell me I wasn't the only one who was trying to remember the part where Bambi went on a weekend trip to Amsterdam with a bunch of students. |
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| Starfish13
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| 255482. Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:29 am |
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| 'Flowers of the Forest' a tune played on the bagpies, most often for Remembrance day or memorial services. |
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| King of Quok
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| 255490. Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:49 am |
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| We had a flower thread a page or so back with some other buzzers: post post 227449 and some bouquets: post post 181612 |
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| THiNK TaNK
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| 255789. Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:54 pm |
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| Flash wrote: |
TT, can you expand on this, please?
| Quote: | | poppies - sleepiness in wizard of oz, general ignorance - drug test, actually true! |
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Some poppies can be used to make opium. The California poppy is not that strong, but papaver somniferum is. Poppies are therefore associated with sleepiness and death, and in the Wizard of Oz, the traveling party falls asleep in a field of poppies, where they might never wake up again. In the hip version "The Wiz" the drug connection is brought out when the lion is in the field too long.
Popularized on an episode of Seinfeld, many experiments have been done to see if eating a poppy seed muffin before a drug test will create a false positive, showing the person is on drugs when they are not. Experiments say its true, but the results have been questioned, because the actual level required has risen, specifically because of poppy seeds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy
also, apologies for not seeing the older thread. I did do a search but missed it. |
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| Flash
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| 255919. Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:24 pm |
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| Thanks - I don't think this is Gen Ig in the UK, unfortunately. Anyone disagree? |
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| mckeonj
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| 255933. Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:11 pm |
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"Flower Fairies of the Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter."
A series of yucky prints, very popular with females of a certain class. |
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| mckeonj
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| 255934. Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:13 pm |
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| Flower clocks: plants set in a circle, whose flowers open and close at different times. Brewer's Dictionary has a list. |
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| Sadurian Mike
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| 255942. Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:32 pm |
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Flower Power. The name allegedly came from the hippies' getting their "power" from cannabis.
Also. The guy photographed putting flowers in the soldier's rifle (in the classic iconic photo) was an actor who used the stage name of "Hibiscus". |
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| King of Quok
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| 255959. Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:29 pm |
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| Flash wrote: | | Thanks - I don't think this is Gen Ig in the UK, unfortunately. Anyone disagree? |
I'm reasonably well aware of the distinction between Papaver somniferum and other species, but I might be an unreliable yardstick, since I'm a keen gardener.
There may be a slightly tangential bit of GI for any movie buffs in that the vast majority of people will assume Dorothy and her friends get out of the poppy field because of a fall of snow (which I'm sure could be analysed as some sort of covert drug reference again, with 'snow', cociane, counteracting the effects of the opiates in the poppies). Though they do in both the film and the RSC stage play (where men in white tie and tails represent snowflakes who arrive to dance away chorus girls in red frocks who represent poppies) in Frank Baum's original book the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow simply pick Dorothy and Toto up (being themselves immune to sleep). The Lion, who is too heavy to lift, is rescued a short while later by the Queen of the Fieldmice and her people who owe the Tin Man a good turn. Interestingly the 'hip' (now horribly dated) version, The Wiz, was originally going to reinstate the Fieldmouse Queen (played, oddly, by Butterfly McQueen, who was better known as Prissy in Gone With The Wind which, curiously, trumped the musical The Wizard of Oz film to an outstanding production Oscar in 1939), but the role was eliminated after the show's Baltimore tryout by new director Geoffery Holder.
Whilst the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) has seeds which are used in bread, curries and even birdfeed, the opium comes from a latex residue in unripened seed pods.
The Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule) also contains opiates and is used to manufacture an analgesic.
The common poppy - also called the red poppy or field poppy - (Papaver rhoeas) is used to colour medicines. The flowers are an expectorant and the petals were used to manufacture a syrup. The seeds produced two grades of oil, the purer an edible cooking oil and the coarser used for mixing paint.
The orange California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) was roasted over hot stones by Native Americans and used as a tranquiliser for toothache. The Latin generic name derives, oddly for an endemic American plant and the state flower of California, from Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz, a ship's doctor from Tartu in Estonia who was accompanying French botanist Adalbert von Chamisso on a plant-classifying expedition to the Americas in 1817. Eschscholtz reciprocated with a species of lupin in 1827, Lupinis chamissonis.
Another Californian native, an exceedingly rare one, is the tree poppy (Romneya coulteri) which was first cultivated as a garden plant in Dublin in 1875. Its flowers are white and it can grow up to 8ft tall.
The plume poppy (Bocconia frutescens) is one of the few woody plants in the family, which are mostly herbaceous; it is a serious invasive weed in Hawaii. |
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| gerontius grumpus
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| 256067. Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:13 am |
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From Richard Mabey's account of the sea holly Eryngium maritimum in Food for free:-
| Quote: | It likes rough ground of sandy and shingly beaches, and its roots have consequently been confused more than once with those of the vitriolic horned poppy, with curious results:
'A certain person made a pye of the roots of this plant, supposing them to be the roots of the Eryngo, of which he had before eaten pyes which were very pleasant, and eating it while it was hot, became delerious, and having voided a stool in a white chamber pot fancied it to be gold, breaking the pot in pieces, and desiring what he imagined as gold, might be preserved as such. Also his man and maid servant eating of the same pye, fancied of what they saw to be gold.'
Philosophical Transactions, 1698
quoted in The Englisman's Flora |
The Yellow horned poppy Glaucum flavum is relatively common in coastal areas and is generally regarded as highly poisonous. |
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| gerontius grumpus
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| 256079. Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:23 am |
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| Poppy seed oil was, until quite recently, used as a medium for iodine based radiological contrast agents; notably for hysterosalpingography, sialography and dacryocystography. |
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| King of Quok
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| 256127. Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:19 am |
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| I have a very old book of flower legends which seems to tie in with the rather whacky story of the man and his gold stool above, since it records that 'The Red Indians belived that the petals of the plant, as they died sank into the ground and turned to gold'. I rather suspect the book might be confusing the California and yellow horned poppies, since the latter, as far as I know, is a European native. The yellow horned poppy also features in some versions of the Greek myth of Glaucus, a fisherman of Anthedon, the son of Nais and Poseidon. He threw the fish he caught upon the bank but noticed that when they fell near a horned poppy and nibbled at the leaves they instantly revived and flung themselves back into the sea. Out of curiosity, he tried some and was overcome with a great desire to leap into the sea, which he did and dwelt there ever after as a sort of minor sea god. |
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