Poppy petals - Specimen details
| Catalogue Number: 41268 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Image | Plant Name | 10.00 PAPAVERACEAE Papaver rhaeas | Entry Book Number | ||
| Artefact Name | Poppy petals | Vernacular Name | |||
| Iso Country | Not defined | TDWG Region | Not defined | ||
| Parts Held | Poppy petals | Geography Description | |||
| Uses | Poppy petalsUse: User: | TDWG use | |||
| Storage | Bottles, boxes etc | Related Items | |||
| Donor | India Museum | Donor No | |||
| Donor Date | Donor Notes | ||||
| Collector | Collector No | ||||
| Collection Notes | Collection Date | ||||
| Exhibition | Expedition | ||||
| Number Components | Publication | ||||
| Notes: | Label source: The poppy is cultivated in Guzerab as a garden flower, but its petals do not appear to have ever been an article of the Indian Materia Medica. Mr Law says that the Mahometans of that province believe it to be the Lala of the Persian poets,, which is generally translated tulip (vide Graham's catalogue of Bombay plants, No 37). In the Bombay shops the capsules of a poppy, in size and shape just like those of P. rhoeas, are sold under the name of Jungli Mudrika The word mudra means a seal, and, mudrika stamped with a seal; under these two names the Hindoos have a metal seal or stamp with which they impress the body after ablution. The impression is made upon the forehead, both temples, both breasts, both shoulders, and the pit of the stomach. Th, e mudra bears various inscriptions peculiar to the sects using it, e.g., followers of Vishnu often engrave upon it Shri Narayen; those of Shiva, Namas Shevaya. The former dip the stamp in a paste made of gopi chandan, a kind of white clay, the latter in a, paste made of bhasam (ashes of cow dung). The mudra is also used by the Swamis as a branding iron. When these teachers visit a town numbers of their followers flock to them to receive the impressions of the hot iron; for this they pay a small fee, and in, sist upon having a good impression for their money. These poppy capsules somewhat resemble the mudra in shape. As a medicine I should imagine them to be useless. Dymock, Pharm Journal (No date) | ||||