Poppies have had a good season here this year and some still are in business, as was this one on Friday (July 21). The four colorful, crepe-like Poppy petals attract pollinators into an efficient trading room. In that room, the rings of the flower’s male stamens offer up anthers that carry thousands of pollen grains.
These grains attach to visiting pollinators that, while looking for nectar, rub against the female stigma in the center. There, the grains fertilize the bulbous, star-crowned ovary that is coated with the sticky nectar and hairs. The ovary swells and gives birth to the seeds that will produce more plants. In opium Poppies, it’s the ovary that contains the milky latex that is extracted to make raw opium for drugs. (Brooklin, Maine)