I In The A To Z of Poppies

The letter I includes the poem In Flanders Field, this is a poem that has started a long tradition for honoring military personnel that have fought in foreign wars. The poem was written by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrea who was a surgeon during World War I and grieved over the soldiers killed during a battle in Flanders Field. This was a field of red poppies and after the poem was written two women took up the cause to honor the soldiers and had been touched by the poem. They fought to have the red poppy recognized as the official flower to honor the soldiers that had been killed during World War I.

This practice of honoring soldiers of foreign wars is still in practice almost 90 years later with the use of red artificial poppies each year in several countries, such as Canada for Remembrance Day and the United States for Veterans Day each year.

The letter I also stands for a poppy referred to as the insane Clown poppy, this poppy is of the species Papaver somniferum var. This has a white flower that is red tipped and has a silky appearance, with four to six petals. This poppy grows to be four and a half feet in height. This is a member of the poppy family that has a sturdy stem and has foliage that can grow to one foot in length.

.